The Right Way
by hunterofartemis080
Summary: The Time Lords decided to love each other again, for better or for worse, but there's a revelation coming that threatens to break their fragile ties apart. With the Silence looming, calling for the death of a Time Lord, whose resolve will break first? Or will both Time Lords be left in the dark? Forth in the Crossed Stars. Time Lady - 11/OC
1. Saving Them

**Saving Them**

A school bus pulled up to a seemingly random spot in the desert, Amy and Rory climbing off. They both had quite large backpacks, Amy taking a second to wave back at the driver. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome!" the man replied before driving off.

Amy turned back to Rory, shifting her bag. "This is it, yeah? The right place?"

"Nowhere, middle of?" Rory sighed, squinting in the light. "Yeah, this is it."

Neither of them noticed Adelaide slightly to the side, standing alone. Instead of the normal dress shirt favored by this regeneration, she'd gone with a light green shorter sleeved top for the weather, but the majority of everything else was the same - including a bracelet from a Christmas long ago - save for the cowboy hat she'd donned. "Howdy," she called to the humans, making them jump.

Amy rushed forward, hugging her tightly. "Adelaide!"

"Hello, Amy," Adelaide said with a laugh. "Good to see you too."

"The Doctor's been quite busy, hasn't he?"

Adelaide laughed again. "Quite a lot of work, keeping him from either completely ruining the timelines or insulting someone beyond repair." She turned to Rory. "Hello, Rory." He hugged her as well.

"Nice hat," Rory said, nodding to it.

"Don't insult people's hat choices," Adelaide scolded, wiggling her finger at him before the hat was shot off by a bullet.

They all turned to see River Song standing a bit away. "Hello, sweetie."

|C-S|

Adelaide brought the trio to a diner, leaving Amy and Rory to get something for them to eat while River read through her diary, attempting to place where on their respective timelines they were. Thankfully, River had made the assumption that if Adelaide was on her own she was a Time Lady, though she had asked where the Doctor was.

Amy and Rory had asked the same, but Adelaide had waved off all of their questions, reminding them that she and the Doctor were able to do things on their own, after all.

"Right then, where are we?" River asked Adelaide, flipping through her journal. "Have we done Easter Island yet?"

Adelaide, though she didn't have a journal, had a far better memory of various adventures than the Doctor did. "Yes, we've done Easter Island."

River smiled. "They worshiped the Doctor there. Have you seen the statues?"

Adelaide forced a smile. "Jim the Fish?"

River noticed the shift in Adelaide's expression, but she didn't say anything. "Jim the Fish! How is he?"

"Still building his dam." She moved to the side to let Amy and Rory slide into the booth as well.

"Sorry, what are you two doing?" Rory asked them, looking at River's journal and Adelaide's lack of one.

"They're all time travelers," Amy explained, "so they never meet in the right order. They're syncing their diaries, though Adelaide doesn't actually have one." Amy leaned forwards, looking at Adelaide. "What's happening? Because you're up to something."

"Never assume, Amy," Adelaide said, but then she sighed. "The Doctor and I, we've spent our entire lives running, but I…I need to stop." She looked at the group she'd gathered, swallowing hard. "I'm going to need all of you with me."

Amy nodded. "Okay. We're here. What's up?"

She smiled again. "A picnic. And then a trip."

"Where?"

"Space, 1969."

|C-S|

Adelaide brought them all to a lakeside for the picnic which, honestly, did not seem like something Adelaide would normally have done, but here they were. Sitting on a picnic blanket with some glasses of wine, though Adelaide was just having water. She didn't speak that much, just letting the companions enjoy themselves for a little, which was something all three of them noticed.

She was always rather quiet - unless she was correcting someone's manners or keeping the Doctor out of trouble - but not like this, at least not that they'd seen yet.

"Is everything alright, Adelaide?" Rory asked her, frowning.

Adelaide just smiled. "Wonderful."

Amy narrowed her eyes slightly. "How long has it been for you?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Almost two hundred years? Not quite certain; time is a bit flexible when you're traveling in a TARDIS."

Amy's gaze flickered to the side, spotting something in the horizon. "Who's that?"

"Hmm?" Rory turned to follow her look. "Who's who?"

"Sorry, what?" Amy said. Adelaide, surprisingly, didn't bother looking.

"What did you see? You said you saw something."

Amy took a drink. "No, I didn't."

Adelaide looked up towards the sky. "The moon is wonderful, isn't it? I always did like moons. Just like you humans." She sighed. "Large, strange, new thing in the sky, you couldn't resist."

"The moon landing was in '69," Rory said, realizing something. "Is that where we're going?"

Adelaide shook her head. "Quite a bit happens in '69 that no one remembers." She looked back at the lake. "Human beings. The Doctor will never be done saving you."

Before anyone could comment, they looked over at the sound of a car driving up, though Adelaide stood and waved at the old man who stepped out. "Who's he?" Amy asked, not recognizing him.

But River was looking at the lake instead, following Adelaide's gaze. "Oh my God…"

The two other humans looked over as well, all of them standing as they saw an astronaut suit standing in the water.

Adelaide's expression gave away none of her true feelings, but she lifted her chin. "Whatever happens, I forbid you to interfere. Do you understand?" she didn't look back at them before walking up to the astronaut.

"That's an astronaut," Rory said to Amy. "That's an Apollo astronaut in a lake."

Amy nodded. "Yeah."

Adelaide stopped in front of the astronaut, clenching her jaw. "Hello. It's going to be okay, I promise." The astronaut lifted the visor. "Alright…"

The group watched as Adelaide spoke to the astronaut before the Time Lady closed her eyes. The astronaut raised its arm.

"What's she doing?" Amy asked.

It shot her, sending Adelaide stumbling back.

"No!" Amy called, trying to run forwards, but Rory and River kept her back.

"Amy, stay back!"

And again, making Adelaide fall to the ground.

"Adelaide said to stay back! You have to stay back!"

"No!"

Adelaide looked back over to the humans as her body began to glow from regeneration energy. And she looked so terribly broken, so heartbroken, so tired, that it barely looked like her at all. Any walls she'd attempted to maintain had just fallen apart. "I'm sorry," she said to them and spread her arms out wide, letting the golden energy rush over her body…

And the astronaut shot her again.

"No!" that time, it was River who ran forwards and the humans weren't far behind.

They all fell to their knees around Adelaide's limp body, the astronaut walking back into the lake. "Adelaide!" Amy tried, shaking Adelaide's arm as River scanned her. "River?" but River was just looking at the device in shock. "No…"

River stood and began shooting at the astronaut, not doing any harm. Then her arm fell to the side as the astronaut just descended into the lake. "Of course not…"

"River, she can't be dead, this isn't possible," Amy said. Even if she'd never been particularly close to the Time Lady - the woman never seeming to really like her - she didn't hate her. She didn't want her to be dead. She didn't want her to leave the Doctor alone in the universe.

River just shook her head. "Whatever that was, it killed her in the middle of her regeneration cycle. Her body was already dead; she didn't make it to the next one."

"Maybe she's a clone or a duplicate or something," Rory tried, hopeful.

The old man who'd driven up in the car stepped up to them, removing his hat. "I believe I can save you some time," he said, making them all look at him. "That most certainly is Adelaide. And she is most certainly dead." He held out a can of gasoline. "She said you'd need this."

Rory frowned. "Gasoline?"

River nodded. "A Time Lord's body is a miracle, even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell." She stood again. "We can't leave her here. Or anywhere."

Amy shook Adelaide's arm, not wanting to believe it, even if she could hear the woman scolding her for thinking so irrationally. "Wake up. Come on, wake up, what about the Doctor, he's not going to last on his own…" but Adelaide stayed dead. Amy looked up at Rory. "What do we do, Rory?"

The man took a deep breath. "We're her friends. We do what any of the Time Lord's friends always do; as we're told."

"There's a boat," River said, pointing towards one she'd seen. "If we're going to do this, let's go it properly."

As the sun set, the humans stood on the coast of the lake, watching Adelaide's body drift out into the lake. They kept looking around for the Doctor to appear, almost certain he'd be able to tell that he was the last Time Lord again.

Adelaide had said it had been almost two hundred years. Maybe…maybe the Doctor didn't care about Adelaide anymore. Maybe she'd stopped caring about him.

But they'd mentioned the Doctor to her and they hadn't been able to see any strange reaction. Of course, none of them had ever claimed to actually be able to read Adelaide's expression, so they couldn't be certain. But there'd been no indication that anything had happened to him.

The fact there was no sign of the Doctor worried all of them. It wasn't like the Doctor to stop caring about someone like that.

They didn't know what had happened to him. But they knew they'd be the ones he'd come running to once he realized Adelaide had died.

River turned to the older man she stood beside, Amy and Rory standing closer to the water. "Who are you? Why did you come?"

"The same reason as you," he said, pulling out his own blue envelope. Amy and Rory glanced back and watched as River did the same. "Dr. Song, Amy, Rory," he nodded at each of them when he said the name. "I'm Canton Everett Delaware III. I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me." He put back on his hat, turning and taking the empty gasoline can as he left.

River watched him for a moment before walking closer to Amy and Rory. "Four."

"Sorry, what?"

"Adelaide numbered the envelopes."

|C-S|

The trio decided to return to the diner in order to let River continue explaining what she'd realized where they wouldn't have to look back at Adelaide's burning body. "You got three," River explained, "I was two, Mr. Delaware was four."

"So?"

"So, where's one?"

Rory's eyes widened. "What, you think she invited someone else?"

"Well, she must have. It's Adelaide, after all; she planned everything to the last detail."

"Will you two shut up?" Amy snapped quietly. "It doesn't matter."

"She was up to something."

"She's dead."

River turned back to Rory. "Space, 1969. What did she mean?"

"You're still talking, but it doesn't matter."

"Hey, it mattered to her," Rory said to his wife, moving a bit closer.

River nodded. "So it matters to us."

"She's dead."

"But she still needs us." River took Amy's hands. "Adelaide needs help, and I know, I know. But right now we have to focus."

"Look!" Rory said, pointing at something on another of the tables. It was another blue envelope, sitting next to an open bottle of soda. "Excuse me, who was sitting over there?"

The man at the counter shrugged. "Some guy."

River walked over and picked up the envelope. "Adelaide knew she was going to her death, so she sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"

Rory shrugged. "Er, your friends. People you trust."

River nodded. "Number one. Adelaide doesn't have other friends, but who did Adelaide trust the most?"

As she spoke, the door behind them opened and out stepped Adelaide herself, though the Time Lady looked more like she was stalking away from whoever was behind the door. She paused when she saw all of them there, staring at her with mixtures of anger, relief, and confusion.

"This is cold," River told her sternly. "Even for you, this is cold."

"Or 'hello', as is polite to say when you greet someone," Adelaide just said.

"Adelaide?" Amy breathed, frowning.

"The Doctor dragged me off to find his special straw." She sighed. "Apparently, it adds 'more fizz'."

"Are you denying the power of the special straw?" the Doctor called and Adelaide stepped to the side so that the Doctor could come up next to her, straw in his mouth.

"Yes, I'm denying the power of the special straw." Adelaide pulled it out of the Doctor's mouth, making him pout.

"How can you be okay?" Amy asked, drawing the Time Lords' attention back to the humans.

The Doctor frowned. "Of course she's okay, she's always okay." His eyes widened as he thought of something, throwing his arm around Adelaide's shoulder. "She's the Queen of Okay!" Then he grimaced. "Oh, that's a rubbish title. Forget that title." He kissed Adelaide's cheek before stepping forward to Amy, hugging her before turning to Rory. "Rory the Roman! That's a good title!" He hugged Rory. "Hello, Rory. And Dr. River Song." The woman was glaring at both Time Lords. "Oh, you bad, bad girl. What trouble have you got for us this time?"

River just slapped the Doctor, hard. Adelaide immediately pulled the Doctor backward and away from River, frowning at the woman, but the human just glared at the Doctor.

"Okay," the Doctor said, rubbing his face. "I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."

"Yes, it is."

The Doctor nodded. "Good. Looking forward to it."

"I don't understand," Rory said, looking towards Adelaide. "How can you be here?"

"We were invited." Adelaide nodded at the envelope River was holding. "Date and map reference. And I'm assuming it was the same for you, unless this is quite of a coincidence."

Amy shook her head. "River, what's going on?"

"Amy, ask her how long it's been for her."

Adelaide frowned. "Time is quite flexible in the TARDIS…"

"Tell her."

"One year."

"But you said…" Amy began, but River cut her off.

"So where does that leave us, huh? Jim the fish? Have we done Jim the fish yet?"

Adelaide just shrugged. "Nope."

"I don't understand."

Rory stepped up to his wife. "Yeah, you do."

The Doctor raised a hand. "We don't! What are we all doing here?"

River glanced at Amy and Rory, the three of them seeming to agree on something, before the woman began to speak. "We've been recruited. Something to do with space, 1969." The Doctor looked away, annoyed they were obviously keeping secrets, but Adelaide still watched River carefully, "and a man called Canton Everett Delaware III."

"Recruited by whom?" Adelaide asked.

"Someone who trusts both of you more than anybody else in the universe."

The Doctor looked back over. "And who's that?"

"Spoilers."

Adelaide, sighing, stuck the Doctor's straw back in his mouth since he'd also been spending that entire time attempting to steal it back from her.

|C-S|

The Doctor hurried around the TARDIS console, setting it into flight, while Adelaide was quite a bit calmer; still excited, as she generally was about whatever adventure they were about to have, but it tended to be slightly more subdued than the Doctor. One of them had to pretend to be responsible, after all.

"1969, that's an easy one!" the Doctor said, having begun rambling, though Adelaide didn't stop him that time. "Funny, how some years are easy, haven't you noticed that Adelaide? Now, 1482, full of glitches."

"Was that your fault?" Adelaide asked, trying to distract the Doctor from noticing how all three companions were looking at the pair of them, although it was mainly Adelaide.

The Doctor chuckled. "Only a bit." Adelaide watched as Amy turned and walked down to sit under the console. "Now then, Canton Everett Delaware III. That was his name, yeah?" he paused in front of River. "How many of those can there be?" River ignored him, just turning and walking down the stairs to join Amy, making Adelaide openly frown. "Well, three, I suppose."

Adelaide moved closer to Rory, who hadn't yet started to move. "Has something happened, Rory?"

Rory coughed. "I'll find out." He turned and walked under the console, leaving the two Time Lords to stare at each other oddly.

|C-S|

Rory walked up as Amy whispered to River, none of them wanting to risk the Time Lords with their 'super-human hearing', as the Doctor had once called it, being able to tell what they were discussing. "Explain it again."

"The Adelaide we saw on the beach is a future version, two hundred years older than the one up there."

"But that's all still going to happen. She's still going to die."

"We're all going to do that Amy."

"We're not all going to arrange our own wake and invite ourselves," Rory pointed out. "So, Adelaide, in the future, knowing she's going to die, recruits her younger self, the Doctor, and all of us to…to what, exactly? Avenge her?"

River shook her head. "Avenging is very much not her style."

"Save her?" Amy offered.

"Yeah, that's very much not her style either."

"We have to tell them."

River shook her head again. "We've told them all we can. We can't even tell them we've seen her future self. She's interacted with her own past; it could rip a hole in the universe if we meddle with anything."

Amy shrugged. "Yes, but the Doctor's done it before."

"And in fairness, the universe did blow up. I have a feeling Adelaide would be attempting to avoid that. She respects continuity far more than him."

"But she'd want to know."

"Would she? Would anyone?"

The Doctor popped his head down from the floor above to look at them, upside down. He had his pouty face on, something all three of them were fairly certain Adelaide was laughing about, which was why she was too busy to tell him, at least for the moment, that it wasn't nice to interrupt conversations. "Adelaide and I are being extremely clever up here, and there's no one to stand around looking impressed! What's the point in having you all?"

"Apologize!" they heard Adelaide call. The Doctor just gave them a look before pulling himself up which was not something Adelaide seemed to be happy about, as she began to scold him.

River just sighed. "Couldn't you just slap him sometimes?"

Amy grabbed River's arm, preventing her from walking back up the stairs. "River, we can't just let her die. We have to stop it. How can you be okay with this?"

"Adelaide or the Doctor's death doesn't frighten me. Nor does my own. There's a far worse day coming for me."

|C-S|

As the companions returned from their conversation below the console, Adelaide allowed the Doctor to continue being clever, in his words. "Time isn't a straight line. It's all bumpy wumpy," he pointed at Adelaide to keep her quiet before he continued. "There's loads of boring stuff like Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons. But now and then there are Saturdays. Big temporal tipping points when anything's possible. The TARDIS can't resist them, like a moth to a flame. She loves a party, so we give her 1969 and NASA, because that's space in the sixties, and Canton Everett Delaware III, and this is where she's pointing."

He spun a screen around for the companions to read. "Washington D.C., April the 8th, 1969," Amy read off. "So why haven't we landed?"

"Because that's not where we're going," Adelaide said.

Rory turned to her. "Oh. Where are we going?"

"Home." She shrugged. "Well, the two of you are."

The Doctor nodded. "Off you pop and make babies." He dodged the wrench that Adelaide threw at his head for that remark. "And you, Dr. Song, back to prison. And us?" he spun to Adelaide, grabbing her hand and twirling her for a moment. "We're late for a biplane lesson in 1911 and Adelaide hates to be late. Or it could be knitting." He shrugged. "Knitting or biplanes. One or the other."

"Did you honestly think we were just going to follow a mysterious summons immediately?" Adelaide asked the humans. "Who sent those messages? Because you know, all of you, you know exactly who did it. Don't dare think you're capable of playing games with us."

"You're going to have to trust us this time."

The Doctor scoffed. "Trust you? Sure. But, first of all, Dr. Song, just one thing…who are you?" He stepped up to River, studying her face. "You're someone from our future, getting that. But who?" River was silent. "Okay. Why are you in prison? Who did you kill, hmm?" He stepped back. "Trust you? Seriously."

Amy stepped forward. "Trust me."

The Doctor spun to her, nodding all too quickly. "Okay."

"You have to do this, and neither of you can ask why."

Adelaide frowned at her. "Are you being threatened?"

"No."

"You're lying."

Amy shook her head. "I'm not lying."

"Swear to us. Swear to us on something that matters."

Amy thought for a moment. "Fish fingers and custard."

The Doctor smiled. "Our lives in your hands, Amelia Pond."

River sighed, thankful. "Thank you."

"So!" the Doctor turned and began to run around the console again. "Canton Everett Delaware III. Who's he?"

Adelaide stepped forward and began to type into the TARDIS, bringing up relevant information. "Ex-FBI. Kicked out."

"Why?"

She smiled. "Problems with authority."

The Doctor laughed. "You and him would get along swimmingly."

Adelaide scoffed. "And you're saying you wouldn't?"

"You're the one who protested. And," he held up a finger, "we're both the ones who ran away, so that's not allowed to be an argument for either of us."

She just returned her attention to the screen, the Doctor grinning because he'd 'won'. "Six weeks after he left the Bureau, the President contacted him for a private meeting."

"Yeah, 1969. Who's President?"

Adelaide paused there, but not for long, and didn't even need to look at the screen to answer. "Richard Milhous Nixon." The Doctor stopped to look at her oddly. "I was a human for a while; I remember some of the history shoved inside my head." She thought for another moment. "Vietnam and Watergate, right?"

The Doctor grimaced. "There's some good stuff too," River reminded him.

"Not enough."

"Hippie!"

"Archaeologist."

"Focus?"

The Doctor spun back to Adelaide, returning to their work piloting the TARDIS. "Okay, since we don't know what we're getting into this time, for once I'm being discreet. Are you proud of me, Adelaide?" She just raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm putting the engines on silent." He threw a lever, but instead of going silent the TARDIS actually went louder. It was only when River readjusted a lever, which the Doctor didn't see, that it actually worked. "Did you do something?" he asked the Time Lady and human.

"No, just watching."

Adelaide raised her hands. "Not me either."

He narrowed his eyes slightly but returned to the console. "Putting the outer shield on invisible." He rubbed his hands together. "I haven't done this in a while. Big drain on the power."

"You can turn the TARDIS invisible?" Rory asked, shocked.

The Doctor just flicked a switch which just made the windows blare quite a bright light, blinding all of them. Adelaide was one of the only ones not affected, being a Time Lady, and managed to get to the console to reverse what he'd done.

"Did you touch something?" the Doctor asked her, frowning.

"Just admiring your wonderful skills." She smiled, which did its job of distracting the Doctor.

"You're wonderful too," he smiled at her too, before spinning to face the rest of the companions. "Now, we can't check the scanner. It doesn't work when we're cloaked. Just give us a mo." He turned and walked towards the door, Adelaide following him without saying anything before they both turned to hold up a hand to the humans, who had started following. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You lot, wait a moment."

"We're in the center of the most powerful city in the most powerful country on Earth," Adelaide said. "We're going to take it slow." And then, before she could stop the Doctor, he stepped out of the TARDIS, which meant Adelaide had to run out almost immediately after to stop him from ruining anything immediately.

 **A/N: A new season has started with a bang. Why was Adelaide the one on the beach? Where was the Doctor?**

 **As a refresher, I picture Adelaide to look like Felicity Jones. She tends to favor white/green dress shirts, jeans, and boots.**

 **Enjoy!**


	2. Helping Him

**Helping Him**

Instantly, she knew they probably shouldn't have landed there since they were now in the corner of the Oval Office. There was a man standing and looking out a large window while the other sat in front of the desk, though both had their backs to the Time Lords.

"Hello? Who is this?" it seemed like they were listening to a recording. "This is President Nixon. Who's calling? Is this you again?"

"Mr. President?" it was very clearly a child on the recording. The Time Lords glanced at each other before moving slowly closer.

"A child," the man in the seat said.

"This is the President, yes."

"I'm scared, Mr. President. I'm scared of the spaceman."

"A little girl?"

"Boy," the man at the window corrected.

"How can you be sure?"

"What spaceman?" the recording continued. "Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now? Who are you?"

The Doctor pulled out a notebook, which was something that had Adelaide raising her eyebrows at, and began to take notes. "Jefferson Adams Hamilton," the voice said.

"Jefferson, listen to me-" but then the recording cut off, the child obviously hanging up.

"Surely this is something the Bureau could handle, sir."

"These calls happen wherever I am," the man at the window, President Nixon, said. "How do I know the Bureau isn't involved? I can't trust anyone…" he turned around and almost immediately spotted the two Time Lords in the middle of his office. The man who was sitting, after realizing something was wrong, stood as well.

"Hello," Adelaide said brightly, nudging the Doctor quite hard in order to make him realize something was wrong. "We're terribly sorry for interrupting."

The Doctor nodded. "We were looking for the...er…oblong room." He began to back up, taking Adelaide's hand to pull her back with him, though he did manage to walk directly into a lamp, which Adelaide was thankfully able to catch before it hit the floor. "We'll just be off, then, shall we?" he turned and would have walked directly into the invisible TARDIS, had Adelaide not used his hand to pull him back.

She also stepped to the side as Canton rushed forward - ready to grab one of them - and let the man just grab the Doctor and wrestle him to the floor. "Ah, no!" the Doctor shouted. "Stop that!"

The doors burst open and a group of armed men ran in, their guns drawn on the Time Lords. "Lockdown! Lockdown!" A guard grabbed Adelaide, pulling her away from the Doctor, but more had to run to the Doctor since he was fighting far more than she was.

"River!" Adelaide called to the TARDIS. "Scanner?" the human had proven herself to be very capable at piloting the TARDIS and since she was fairly certain the scanner did actually work even while cloaked, if there was anyone who would know how to do it was River.

"Get the President out of here!" One of the men ordered. "Sir, you have to go with them, now."

"Uncloak it!"

The TARDIS shimmered into view again, stunning all the guards enough that both Time Lords were able to step out of their grips.

"What the hell is that?"

The guards looked around and then spun to find the Doctor sitting in the President's desk while Adelaide sat on the desk in front of him. "Mr. President," the Doctor said, in his best American accent, and shut the binder he'd found. All of the guards had their guns pointed at them, but the Time Lords didn't seem that bothered. "That child just told you everything you need to know, but you weren't listening. Never mind, though, because the answer's yes. We'll take the case."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Guns, really? We just walked into the highest security office in the United States and parked a large blue box on the rug. What makes you think you'd just be able to shoot us? Logic, please."

River stepped out of the TARDIS. "They're Americans!"

The Time Lords jumped up as the guards spun to aim at the humans. "Don't shoot! Definitely no shooting!"

"Nobody shoot us either," Rory said as he and Amy stepped out of the TARDIS, their hands up. "Very much not in need of getting shot. Look, we've got our hands up."

"Who the hell are you?" Nixon asked all of them, looking between the two groups.

"Sir," Canton said, "you need to stay back."

"But who are they and what is that box?"

"It's a police box. Can't you read?" Adelaide looked back at the Doctor. "Apologies for that. But we're your new undercover agents on loan from Scotland Yard. Code name: the Doctor. And this is my partner, code name: Manner's Lady." Adelaide rolled her eyes at that. "These are our top operatives; the Legs, the Nose, and Mrs. Robinson."

River sighed. "I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"Who are you?" Nixon asked again.

"Nah, boring question. Who's phoning you?" the Doctor ignored his question. "Because Canton III is right. That was definitely a girl's voice, which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from."

"Where?" Canton asked, obviously growing more amused.

"Do not engage with the intruder, Mr. Delaware."

"You heard everything we heard," Adelaide said. "It's quite simple if you'll allow us five minutes to explain. However, if you dare harm one of us or our friends, you will never receive the answer."

Canton glanced back at the TARDIS. "How did you get it in here? I mean, you didn't carry it in."

The Doctor smirked. "Clever, eh?"

"Love it."

"Do not compliment the intruder."

"Five minutes?"

Adelaide nodded. "Five."

"Mr. President, these people are a clear and present danger to-"

"Mr. President," Canton interrupted, "these people walked in here with a big blue box and three of their friends, and that's" he pointed at the guard "the man they walked past. One of them's worth listening to. I say we give them five minutes. See if they deliver."

"Thank you, Canton."

"If they don't, I'll shoot them myself."

Adelaide just shrugged, speaking before the Doctor could. "Fair enough."

"Sir, I cannot recommend…"

"Shut up, Peterson!" Nixon ordered. "All right, five minutes." After a moment, all of the guards lowered their guns, thankfully.

The Doctor walked back over to the desk. "We're going to need a SWAT team, ready to mobilize. Street level maps covering all of Florida. A pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers and a fez."

Canton just smiled at him. "Get him his maps."

|C-S|

They had properly filled the room with maps, which was something that Adelaide had been quite irritated about. It had taken the Doctor pulling her to the side for a few moments to get her to calm down enough to actually help them, and still, she felt quite itchy about the mess. Adelaide may have hated to clean, but she hated making a mess in the first place.

Now, she sat in the corner of the room, studying a map, while the other three companions were scattered around at various places and the Doctor stood in the middle, holding up a map. The President sat at his desk with Canton close to him, and two guards at the door.

"Why Florida?" Canton asked the Doctor as the Time Lord walked past him.

"There's where NASA is," he explained. "She mentioned a spaceman. NASA's where the spacemen live. Also, there's another lead we're following," he gestured at Adelaide in the corner.

They all looked for a moment longer before Amy looked up suddenly. "I remember."

Everyone looked to her, though Rory was closest. "Amy? What do you remember?"

But Amy just shook her head. "I don't know. I just…"

"Amy, what's wrong?"

"Amy?"

"Everything okay?"

Even the Doctor actually noticed something was wrong. "Are you all right?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah. No, I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little sick." She stood and walked over to one of the guards by the door. "Excuse me, is there a toilet or something?"

"Sorry, ma'am, while this procedure's ongoing, you must remain within the Oval office."

Canton sighed. "Shut up and take her to the restroom."

The second guard nodded. "This way, ma'am."

Amy smiled. "Thanks."

As she left, Canton walked up to Adelaide and the Doctor, since the Time Lord had walked over to stand by her. "Your five minutes are up."

"Yeah, and where's my fez?" he leaned over and showed Adelaide the map he'd found.

Then the phone rang and everyone in the room turned to look. "The kid?" Canton asked them.

"Should I answer it?" Nixon asked the Time Lords, who had returned to looking at the map.

"Here!" the Doctor said, straightening and pointing at a spot on the map. "The only place in the United States that call could be coming from." Canton leaned over to look as the Doctor wrapped his arm around Adelaide. "See? Obvious, when you think about it."

Canton laughed. "You, sir, are a genius."

The Doctor shrugged. "It's a hobby. Adelaide's better though."

"Mr. President, answer the phone."

Nixon looked uneasy for a moment, but then he picked up the phone while pressing record. "Hello. This is President Nixon."

"It's here!" the girl cried, sounding terrified. "The spaceman's here! It's going to get me! It's going to eat me!"

"There's no time for a SWAT team," the Doctor said as Adelaide rushed towards the TARDIS, grabbing his jacket for him and tossing it back. "Let's go!"

"Mr. President, tell her that help is on the way," Adelaide told Nixon.

"Canton," the Doctor pointed at the man, "on no account follow us into this box and close the door behind you."

"What the hell are you doing?" Canton shouted as the Time Lords - and humans - disappeared inside. He rushed over and shut the door behind him, only to freeze at the sight of the inside of the TARDIS. The Time Lords and River were running around the console piloting while Amy and Rory stood to the side and tried to stay out of the way.

"Jefferson isn't a girl's name," the Doctor explained. "It's not her name either."

"Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton," Adelaide listed. "River?"

"Surnames of three of America's founding fathers."

The Doctor nodded. "Lovely fellows. Two of them fancied me." Then he paused for a second, glancing at Adelaide, because they'd met those three founding fathers in his past regeneration when she'd still been human.

But Adelaide either hadn't noticed what he'd said or just wasn't showing any reaction, and he was fairly certain it was the second one.

"The President asked the child two questions," she continued, drawing the Doctor back into the current situation. "'Where are you' and 'who are you?' She was just answering where." Rory walked over to Canton, as the man had yet to actually move.

"Now, where would you find three big, historical names in a row like that?"

"Where?" Amy asked.

"Here." The Doctor pulled the final lever before grabbing Adelaide's hand and pulling her towards the door of the TARDIS. "Come on!"

However, Canton stopped them, still looking shocked. "It's…er…"

The Doctor glanced at Rory. "Are you taking care of this?" Without waiting for an answer, the Doctor pushed past Rory, which made Adelaide sigh.

"Why is it always my turn?" Rory called after them, but the Time Lords had already left the TARDIS and were in the process of studying the space around them.

They had landed in a cluttered warehouse, which Adelaide was actually alright with; so long as she or someone associated with her - right now, mainly the Doctor - wasn't the one creating the mess, she wasn't bothered as there was no reason she had to be responsible for cleaning it. Especially because the building appeared to be abandoned, so there was no one around who would be that bothered about a mess.

She still would have preferred it to be neat, but it wasn't as stressful of a situation.

"Where are we?" Amy asked as she stepped out.

"About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre. It's 1969, the year of the moon." Amy and River pulled out torches. "Interesting, don't you think?"

"But why would a little girl be here?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know. Lost me a bit. The President asked the girl where she was, and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out of the window." He pulled aside the curtain to let them look out the window, seeing the three intersecting street signs.

"Streets," Amy nodded. "Of course, street names."

"The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction." The Doctor spun to look at Adelaide, who was standing a bit to the side. "And Adelaide, you've got that face on again."

She raised her eyebrows. "What face?"

"The 'he's hot when he's clever' face."

"I happen to think it's the 'the idiot's finally done something somewhat clever' face."

He came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her, which seemed to have become his favorite position - the previous regeneration liked taking the hand of the people he loved, and this one liked to hold them tight. "That too."

"You're the one with the 'she's hot when she's clever' face."

He kissed her cheek. "Which is my normal face because you're always clever."

"Stop flirting!" River called.

Canton and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS and Canton possible looked more shocked about having moved then the TARDIS being bigger on the inside. "We've moved. How…how can we have moved?"

The Doctor frowned at Rory. "You haven't even got to space travel yet?"

Rory shrugged. "I was going to cover it with time travel."

Canton's eyes widened. "Time travel?"

"Brave heart, Canton." The Doctor spun Adelaide, switching to holding her hand, as they continued through the warehouse. "Come on."

In the other room, River was looking through some of the broken things thrown about. "It's a warehouse of some kind. Disused."

"You realize this is almost certainly a trap, of course?" Adelaide asked her.

River nodded. "I noticed the phone, yes." There had been a phone by the window, but the line had been cut.

"What about it?"

"It was cut off," the Doctor explained. "So, how did the child phone from here."

"Okay, but why would anyone want to trap us?"

He shrugged. "Let's see if anyone tries to kill us and work backwards." The Time Lords stepped apart from each other and pulled out their sonics, scanning various things.

"Now, why would a little girl be here?"

"I don't know," the Doctor said. "Let's find her and ask her."

Adelaide stopped at a large lab table, studying the various bits of technology scattered about. River stepped up next to her as well, scanning it. "It's nonterrestrial. Definitely alien. Probably not even from this time zone."

"Which is odd, because look at this!" they turned to see the Doctor rummaging through a large crate that had a spacesuit sticking out of it.

"It's Earth tech," River said, walking over. "It's contemporary."

"It's very contemporary. Cutting edge. This is from the space program."

"Stolen?"

Amy scoffed. "What, by aliens?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Apparently."

"But why? I mean, if you can make it all the way to Earth, why steal technology that can barely make it to the moon?"

"Maybe because it's cooler," the Doctor said, putting on the helmet. "Look how cool this stuff is!"

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Cool aliens?"

"Well, what would you call us?" he gestured at Adelaide.

"Aliens."

"Oi!"

"I, er, I think he's okay now," Rory said, him and Canton stepping up.

"How are you doing, Canton?" Adelaide asked, stepping over to him.

"I like your wheels."

Adelaide grinned. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Come on, little girl, let's find her." The Doctor glanced to the side, seeing Amy and River standing together and whispering. He made a move like he was going to walk over to them, but Adelaide grabbed his arm before he could get very far. "Please?" he whispered to her.

"Eavesdropping isn't polite." She pulled him away. "Come on."

"Look at this!" River called, having stepped a bit away from Amy to look down into a manhole cover.

The Doctor pulled Adelaide over. "Where does that go?" he asked River.

River scanned it quickly. "There's a network of tunnels running under here."

"Life signs?" Adelaide asked.

"No, nothing that's showing up."

"Those are the worst kind." River began to lower herself into the manhole. "Be careful."

"Careful?" River scoffed. "I tried that once. Ever so dull."

Adelaide smiled. "Shout if you encounter trouble."

"Don't worry, I'm quite the screamer." River laughed. "Now, there's a spoiler for you."

Canton stepped closer as the Time Lords turned. "Tell me what's going on here."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Er, nothing. She's just a friend, only a friend…"

"He's talking about the possible alien incursion," Adelaide said, taking the Doctor's hand. "Not River."

He nodded. "Okay."

River popped back up, looking quite tired for a few seconds before becoming calm again. "All clear. Just tunnels. Nothing down there I can see. Give me five minutes. I want to take another look around."

"Stupidly dangerous!" the Doctor called, the Time Lords having walked a bit away.

"Yeah, I like it too," River said, glancing at Amy. "Amy, look after them." She descended back into the manhole.

"Rory?" Adelaide said. "Would you mind going down with her?"

"Yeah, a bit."

She smiled at him. "Then we'd appreciate it all the more."

Rory sighed, but he walked over to the manhole anyways. "Hang on River, I'm coming too!"

|C-S|

Rory jumped off the ladder to find River hunched over, looking sick. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I just felt a bit sick," River straightened. "It's the prison food, probably." She pulled out her scanner. "Okay, this way? What do you think?" She just kept walking, letting Rory follow her.

After a few moments, Rory looked around the tunnel. "I keep thinking I hear things."

"That's interesting," River said, frowning as she looked at her scanner. "These tunnels are old. Really old. How can they be really old and nobody noticed them?" she stopped at a metal door.

Rory frowned at it. "It's a maintenance hatch."

River scanned it before squatting in front of it. "It's locked. Oh, why do people always lock things?"

"What's through there?"

She shrugged, pulling out a lock picking kit. "I've no idea."

"Something bad?"

"Almost definitely."

"You're going to open it, aren't you?"

"Well, it's locked. How's a girl supposed to resist?"

"Is this sensible?"

"God, I hope not."

Rory shook his head. "How you and Adelaide get along is beyond me."

"Trust me, I wonder the same thing sometimes."

"But you and the Doctor, I can kind of picture it."

River sighed. "Keep a look out."

"What did you mean?" Rory continued. "What you said to Amy. There's a worse day coming for you."

"When I first met the Time Lords, a long, long time ago, they knew all about me. Think about that. An impressionable young girl and suddenly this man and woman just drop out of the sky and he's brave and mad and she's clever and wonderful, and they both know every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl."

Rory nodded. "I don't really have to." Amy had developed feelings for the Doctor over their travels, but after they'd brought Rory along and the Doctor had started fawning over Adelaide far more obviously, Amy had let her feelings fade away.

"The trouble is, it's all back to front. My past is their future. We're travelling in opposite directions. Every time we meet, I know them more, they know me less. I live for the days when I see them, but I know that every time I do, they'll be one step further away. And the day is coming when I'll look into that man's eyes, my Doctor, and he won't have the faintest idea who I am. And she's going to look at me and my Adelaide is..." There was a clicking sound as she undid the lock. "I think it's going to kill me."

|C-S|

Amy and Canton stood to the side, looking at some wires, while the Time Lords worked together on the other side of the room around a table. "So, you were kicked out of the FBI because you had attitude problems?" Amy asked him.

"No, I just wanted to get married."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Is that a crime?"

"Yes." He nodded over towards where the Time Lords were. "Doctor who, exactly?"

"That's classified."

"Classified by who?"

"Adelaide."

Canton chuckled. "Do you work for them?"

Amy shrugged. "They're my friends, if 'friends' is the right word, especially for Adelaide - she doesn't have 'friends'. I haven't seen either of them in a while. I had something I wanted to tell them, but stuff always gets in the way."

He nodded. "Stuff does that."

"Help me!" a young girl shouted suddenly, making everyone turn in the direction of the voice. "Help! Help me!"

"That's her!" Canton said, drawing his gun and running after it.

Amy moved to follow him but doubled over, gripping her stomach. The Time Lords, running past her, stopped for a second. "Amy?"

"Help me! Please!" the girl shouted.

"What's wrong?"

Amy grabbed the Doctor's hand because his was closer. "I need to tell you something. It's important."

"Doctor!" Canton called from the other room.

"It's really, really important."

"Adelaide, quickly!"

The Doctor sighed, turning. "What, now?" he ran off Canton's voice, but Adelaide stayed for a moment to ensure Amy was still alright before they rushed after him.

Canton was lying on the ground and the Doctor was sonicing him. "Canton! Canton, are you okay?"

"Is he alright?" Adelaide asked, too far away to scan herself.

"Just unconscious. Got a proper whack."

Amy nodded. "Doctor, Adelaide, I need to tell you something. I have to tell you it now."

"Not a great moment."

"Doctor!" Adelaide scolded.

Amy grabbed Adelaide's hand. "No, it's important. It has to be now."

"Help! Help me!" the girl shouted. "Help me!"

"I'm pregnant."

Both Time Lords' mouths fell open as they stared at their companion. But they didn't get long, because there was the sound of large boots and, when they looked over, they saw a spacesuit walk over. The Doctor stepped a bit closer, Adelaide remaining in between the spacesuit and Amy.

"That's it…the astronaut…"

The spacesuit raised the visor. It was the little girl. "Help me!" the girl said, desperate, as she raised a hand.

"Get down!"

The Time Lords spun to see Amy holding out Canton's gun, aiming it at the spacesuit. "What are you doing?"

Amy looked at Adelaide. "Saving your life!" She fired.

 **A/N: Really just a bit more fun playful flirting between the Doctor and Adelaide. This is one of their cutest stages, where they're cuddly and kissy and flirty, but it doesn't stay for long, sadly...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _zoey-the-catgirl: I'm glad you're looking forward to it! Adelaide's relationship with Gallifrey will be tricky when we get to it. Look forward to the 50th chapters for that ;)_

 _AGBreads: I'm glad you liked it. I'm very excited for what's to come in this season ;)_


	3. Finding It

**Finding It**

Adelaide didn't actually know how long she and the Doctor had been sitting in straitjackets in Area 51. Generally, if they focused, Time Lords had a good grasp of time wherever they were, but it was a bit more difficult when they were in straitjackets and kept a few levels above the surface of the Earth. It also didn't help that the only person they had been able to speak to was Canton and he didn't make that regular of visits.

The rest of the time they were just sitting there, looking out at the room as various soldiers guarded them. The Time Lords had never wished for a mental connection more than at that moment; then, at least, they'd be able to talk.

It had been months since the Time Lords had spoken to each other, since they'd even touched each other.

It was infuriating.

Adelaide did not like being trapped in her own mind. It brought back too many memories of being Caroline after the reboot of the universe, even of just being inside the fob watch in general. All of that had happened so recently in their timeline, the memories were still terribly fresh.

Still at the point where if Adelaide wasn't careful the world would fade to buzzing and she would start shaking and breathing wouldn't be possible and neither would speaking, even if she could.

But she could be careful. She had to be careful. She knew the only reason it was so difficult to stay careful was that her body was still settling after the broken chameleon arch. Everything was still adjusting itself, fixing any holes or issues that had developed from a human who'd had the essence of a Time Lady slowly drifting into her.

Once more time had passed, she'd be better. She'd be normal.

At least, Adelaide's normal.

At the moment, she was sitting with her eyes closed, distracting herself from what lay before them. Once upon a time, she would have been among the scientists, studying the alien they'd captured. Thankfully, Canton had kept them from being dissected or tested in any way.

Just focusing on breathing. On counting it, keeping her breaths slow, steady.

"We found Amy Pond," Canton said, making Adelaide open her eyes. He and another man in a suit stood before the Time Lords with a folder of pictures. "She had strange markings on her arm." He held up a picture, showing Amy's arm covered in tally marks. "Do you know what they are?" He tossed the picture just over the yellow line that encircled them, keeping anyone from getting too close

The Doctor glared at him. The Time Lord had grown a beard in the time that had passed. "Why don't you ask her?"

Canton just smirked.

|C-S|

The Time Lords watched as scientists built a wall of black bricks around the Time Lords. One of the corners was already quite high, which was honestly bothering Adelaide. Combined with everything else, it was getting even harder to keep her breathing still.

"We found Dr. Song," Canton said, walking up again.

"These bricks," Adelaide asked, ignoring his statement, "what are they made of?" She was pleased that she was able to speak at all right now. The words took time to form, but they came.

Canton didn't answer. "Where is she?" the Doctor asked him.

"She ran. Off the 50th floor."

"I'd say zero balance dwarf star alloy," Adelaide said casually. "The densest material in the universe. There's nothing in existence that would be able to get through it. How kind; you're building us the perfect prison."

The Doctor nodded. "And it still won't be enough."

|C-S|

The prison completed, Canton walked towards the Time Lords with two soldiers behind them, the pair of them dragging body bags. They dropped the bodies on either side of the Time Lords before leaving just Canton standing before them.

"Is there a reason you're doing this?" the Doctor glared at Canton.

"I want you to know where you stand."

"In a cell."

Canton nodded. "In the perfect cell. Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a sound, not a radio wave, not the tiniest particle of anything." He turned and closed the door, sealing them inside completely. "In here, you're literally cut off from the rest of the universe. So I guess they can't hear us, right?"

The Doctor grinned. "Good work, Canton."

"Door sealed?"

Canton smirked. "You bet."

With hardly any effort, the Time Lords stood and shook off the chains and straitjackets. Almost instantly, Adelaide felt herself calm, breaths coming easily and the world staying stable. Just what she needed. On their sides, the body bags sat up, and the Time Lords turned to open them. Amy and Rory gasped for breath.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked Amy.

"Finally."

Rory turned to Canton. "These things could really do with air holes."

Canton shrugged. "Never had a complaint before."

"Isn't it going to look odd that you're staying in here with us?"

"Odd, but not alarming." He tapped one of the walls. "They know there's no way out of this place."

"Exactly." The Doctor walked over to Adelaide, grabbed her hand, pulled her into a kiss, pressed his forehead against hers, and then moved to the corner. "Whatever they might think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere." Together, spinning her into his arms, they slumped to the side and leaned against the TARDIS. He snapped his fingers and the doors opened. "Shall we?"

Amy and Rory ran into the TARDIS and Adelaide pulled the Doctor in after, relishing the fact that she could touch someone. That she could feel herself touching someone and know they were entirely real.

"What about Dr. Song?" Canton asked, following them. "She dove off a rooftop."

The Time Lords worked to pilot. "Don't worry, she does that."

"Amy, Rory, open all the doors to the swimming pool," Adelaide called, and a few seconds later there was a splashing sound as River fell through the TARDIS.

The Doctor didn't wait for River to arrive before speaking. "So, we know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force, and they have been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them."

Canton frowned. "So what are they up to?"

"No idea. But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon." Adelaide spun a computer screen for the companions to see, showing the Apollo 11 rocket they'd landed close to.

"Apollo 11's your secret weapon?" Amy asked.

"No, no. It's not Apollo 11. That would be silly." The Doctor walked to stand beside Adelaide, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "It's Neil Armstrong's foot."

|C-S|

Once the Time Lords had changed their clothing and River had dried herself, everyone reconvened in the console room of the TARDIS. They were all scattered around at various points, the Doctor fiddling with something, before he stepped forward and shot something into Canton's hand.

"Ow!"

"Three months," the Doctor said, just spinning around and leaving Adelaide to go quickly apologize to the man. "What have we found out?"

"Well, they are everywhere. Every state in America-" Rory was cut off when the Doctor shot his hand. "Ah!"

The Doctor nodded. "Not just America, the entire world."

"There's a greater concentration here, though," River called.

"Ow!" the Doctor shot Amy's hand as well.

"Are you okay?" he asked her quietly, Adelaide close enough to hear.

Amy nodded. "All better."

"Better?"

"Turns out I was wrong. I'm not pregnant."

Rory stepped closer. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Amy smiled at him. "Really, nothing. Seriously."

"So you've seen them, but you don't remember them," Canton said, drawing them back to the issue at hand.

River nodded. "You've seen them, too. That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down, we saw hundreds of those things. We still don't know what they look like."

Rory shook his head. "It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything."

"Sometimes you feel a bit sick," Amy offered, "though, but not always."

"So that's why you marked your skin."

Amy nodded. "Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter."

"How long have they been here?"

"That's what we've spent the last three months trying to figure out."

"Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover."

"How long do you think?"

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall," the Doctor said, moving forwards. "They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins."

Canton frowned. "How?"

"Like this." The Doctor spun and quickly injected River's hand.

"Ow!"

The Doctor laughed. "Nanorecorder. Fuses with the cartilage in your hand." He injected himself quickly, wincing. "And it tunes itself directly to the speech centers in your brain." Adelaide stepped up next to him and he injected her too. "It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures," he tapped the center of his palm, making the recorder glow red, "you activate it, and describe aloud exactly what you're seeing." A second later, the recorder repeated back what he'd said. "'And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."

"The moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened," Adelaide said. "The light will flash if you've left yourself a message, which means you'll need to keep checking your hand. If you've had an encounter, that's how you'll know."

"Why didn't you tell me this before we started?" Canton asked them.

"We did, but even information about these creatures erases itself over time. We couldn't refresh it because we couldn't talk to you."

Canton glanced over his shoulder for a moment before turning back around, stepping forward and straightening his bow-tie. He stopped when he saw Amy, Rory, and River now standing behind the Time Lord, staring at him. "What? What are you staring at?"

"Look at your hand," River nodded towards it.

Canton looked down and the light was blinking red. "Why is it doing that?"

"What does it mean if the light's flashing?" Adelaide prompted carefully, using what Amy instantly placed as the woman's 'teacher voice', which she tended to apply seemingly without thinking about it. "What did we just tell you?"

"I haven't…"

"Play it."

Canton pressed it, and they heard his voice saying, "'My God, how did it get in here?'"

"'Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back and when you do, straighten my bow-tie.'"

"'What? What are you staring at?'"

"'Look at your hand.'"

When Canton looked over his shoulder again, he saw one of the creatures standing in the TARDIS.

"It's a hologram," the Doctor explained, "extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look." Adelaide flicked off the image. "You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me."

But Canton just shook his head. "I can't."

"No, neither can I. You straightened my bow-tie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature."

Amy's eyes widened. "So they could do that to people. You could be doing stuff and not really knowing why you're doing it."

"Like posthypnotic suggestion."

"Ruling the world with posthypnotic suggestion?"

"Now then," the Doctor interrupted, "a little girl in a spacesuit. They got the suit from NASA, but where did they get the girl?"

Canton shrugged. "It could be anywhere."

"They'd likely stayed close to the warehouse," Adelaide said, "and take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention." She brought up a map on the TARDIS quickly.

"But you'll have to find her," the Doctor said as she worked. "Adelaide and I are off to NASA."

"Find her? Where do we look?"

Adelaide spun the screen over to let him see. "Children's homes."

|C-S|

Adelaide had forced the Doctor to take her along, saying that since he was breaking into a government facility, it might be good to have someone along who wouldn't just instantly offend the soldiers who would eventually find them. That wasn't saying she'd be able to do anything to keep them from being arrested, she wasn't going to claim that skill - her past encounters with the Atraxi were evidence enough of that - but she honestly didn't trust the Doctor to go on his own.

Now, as he worked, Adelaide was standing a bit away from the rocket, holding onto her phone and waiting for Amy to call.

When she did, Adelaide answered immediately. "Hello, Amy."

"I think we've found the place she was taken from."

"How do you know?"

"Because those things have been here. But the whole place is deserted. There's just one guy here and I think he's lost it."

Adelaide nodded. "Repeated memory wipes will destroy your mind eventually. Find out anything you can, but don't stay long."

"Where are you?"

Adelaide was about to answer when she looked up, having gotten a bit distracted by both talking to Amy and listening to the Doctor make an interesting noise from inside the shuttle, to find the scientists had spotted them, as they'd guessed. "Sorry, we have company. Goodbye."

The Doctor looked out with a wide grin. "Don't worry, I've put everything back the way I found it, she would have killed me otherwise…" then he noticed the wire dangling from his hand. "Except this. There's always a bit left over, isn't there?"

Adelaide just sighed at him.

|C-S|

The Time Lords sat handcuffed in the middle of a lecture room, the large chalkboards beside them filled with various diagrams. A bit too close for comfort with the past three months, but Adelaide felt as comfortable as she could have.

"Now, one more time, sir," the man seated in front of them sighed. "How the hell did you get into the command module?"

"We have already told you," Adelaide said, getting a bit perturbed that the man hadn't been acknowledging her. "We're on a mission for the President."

The man looked at her. "Well, maybe if you just get President Nixon to assure us of that, ma'am, that would be swell."

"We did send him a message," Adelaide said, nodding towards the door behind the man just as it opened.

Nixon walked in, River and Rory following him, both of them dressed quite formally, looking the part.

The seated man almost fell to the ground as he struggled to stand from the shock of it all. "Hello. I believe it's Mr. Gardner. Is that correct?" Nixon shook the man's hand. "Head of Security?"

Gardner nodded frantically. "Er, yes, sir. Yes, Mr. President."

Nixon turned to the man who'd been next to Gardner, who was in a similar state of shock. "Mr. Grant, is it?"

"Yes, Mr. President!"

"The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today at Cape Kennedy, and you're the men who guard those dreams." Nixon smiled at them. "On behalf of the American people, I thank you."

"You're welcome, Mr. President."

"I understand you have a baby on the way, Mr. Grant."

Grant's eyes widened. "Yes, Mr. President."

"What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?"

"Just a healthy American, sir."

Nixon nodded. "A healthy American will do just nicely. Now, fellows, listen. This man and woman here, code name the Doctor and Manner's Lady…" the men glanced back at the pair, who both waved, though Adelaide did give the Doctor a glare when they turned around at the nickname he'd given her, "are doing some work for me personally. Could you cut them a little slack?"

"Er, Mr. President, they did break into Apollo 11."

Nixon glanced at them, the Doctor mouthing 'sorry' while Adelaide mouthed 'his idea'.

"Well, I'm sure they had a very good reason for that. But I need you to release them now so they can get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?"

"Well…"

"Son, I am your Commander in Chief."

Gardner nodded. "Then I guess that would be fine, Mr. President."

"Glad to hear it."

Gardner motioned for the guard to release the Time Lords, letting them jump up. "Thank you!" The Doctor ran to the men to shake their hands. "Bye, bye."

"Terribly sort for breaking in," Adelaide told them, dragging the Doctor away from the men and back towards the TARDIS.

"Carry on, gentlemen," Nixon said to the men, following the pair of them. River followed almost immediately, but Rory took a bit longer.

He was quite glad Adelaide couldn't see him break a bit off one of the models because he was fairly certain he'd get a right scolding for it.

|C-S|

The Time Lords returned Nixon to his office, pausing to take a moment and explain whatever they could of the current alien threat before they left. "You have to tape everything that happens in this office," the Doctor said. "Every word, or you won't know if you're under the influence." They turned and walked back towards the TARDIS, but Nixon called after them.

"You have to give me more than this. What were you doing to Apollo 11?"

"A thing. A clever thing."

"Sorry, no more questions at the moment." Adelaide smiled at him. "You have to trust us and nobody else."

River came out of the TARDIS, holding Adelaide's phone. "Doctor, Adelaide, it's Canton. Quick! He needs us!"

The Time Lords didn't wait a second before running back to the TARDIS.

|C-S|

When they ran into the children's home, they could hear Amy calling for help up the stairs. The group rushed up immediately to find Canton attempting to break down the door. "Amy! Amy, can you hear me? Amy, I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back."

They entered the hall just as Canton pointed his gun at the lock. "Okay, gun down!" the Doctor called, Adelaide running forward to unlock the door. "We've got it."

"Amy, we're here," Rory said, right behind her. "Are you okay?"

"I can't see."

Adelaide got the door open, and she led the way into the room, the rest of the group rushing in after. There was a spacesuit on the ground, which the Doctor rushed to look at.

"Where is she?" Rory asked, frantic.

River knelt beside the Doctor, opening the visor of the spacesuit. "It's empty."

"It's dark," Amy said. "So dark. I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me?"

Rory bent down and picked up the recorder. "They took this out of her. How did they do that, Doctor?" Amy was crying. "Why can I still hear her?"

"Is it a recording?"

Adelaide quickly soniced it. "It defaults to live; this is current." She took a deep breath. "Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying."

Rory held it to his mouth. "Amy, can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear."

"She can't hear you," Adelaide said quietly. "I'm so sorry, but it's one way."

Rory looked at her. "She can always hear me, Adelaide. Always. Wherever she is, and she always knows that I am coming for her. Do you understand me? Always."

"Doctor?" Amy's voice interrupted them. "Adelaide? Are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, just get me out of this."

Rory swallowed hard. "They're coming. I'll bring them, I swear."

"Hello?" someone said from the hallway, and when they turned they saw the director of the children's home. "Is somebody there? I think someone has been shot. I think we should help. We c…I can't re…I can't remember."

Adelaide quickly got the director to bring them to his office, the Doctor admitting that she would likely be a bit more careful than he would. Together, they looked down at one of the aliens. "Okay," the Doctor said. "Who and what are you?"

"Silence, Doctor and Protector." They heard the voice in their minds. "We are the Silence."

The Time Lords looked at each other, remembering each of the times one of their threats had mentioned the Silence, each time they'd passed it off or forgotten.

"And Silence will fall."

 **A/N: What's this? A little mention of possible residual effects from the messed up fob watch/chameleon arch? Now, I do wonder if that will ever come up again ;) I have said before, after all, that just because Adelaide returned to the universe doesn't mean that Caroline is gone forever.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _AGBreads: The entire River situation was interesting to think through, that's for certain. Glad you enjoyed it! :)_


	4. Knowing Her

**Knowing Her**

They sent Canton back to Area 51 with the alien to get it treated, though they had stopped and grabbed Nixon just in case Canton ran into any trouble. Thankfully, Amy had left her video phone since Adelaide's didn't have a camera - she made a note to look into getting hers upgraded - so that he could send them a recording of the alien.

Now, they were in the warehouse with a television playing the launch of Apollo 11 while the Time Lords and River worked on the spacesuit.

"It's an exoskeleton," River said, looking at her scanner. "Basically, life support. There's about twenty different kinds of alien tech in here."

The Doctor frowned at it. "Who was she? Why put her in here?"

"You put this on, you don't even need to eat. The suit processes sunlight directly. It's got built in weaponry, and a communications system that can hack into anything."

"Including the telephone network?"

River nodded. "Easily."

"But why phone the President?"

"It defaults to the highest authority it can find."

Adelaide frowned. "A young girl gets scared and the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call."

"The night terrors with a hotline to the White House."

Adelaide looked up as the Doctor actually licked the envelope they'd received. "Don't dare try to kiss me after that."

River looked up as well. "You won't learn anything from that envelope, you know."

"Purchased on Earth," the Doctor said, which made Adelaide sigh. "Perfectly ordinary stationery. TARDIS blue. Summoned by a stranger who won't even show his face. That's a first, for me, how about you?"

"Our lives are back to front. Your future's my past. Your firsts are my lasts."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "That's not really what I asked."

She just shrugged. "Ask something else, then."

"What are the Silence doing raising a child?" Adelaide offered.

"Keeping her safe, even giving her independence."

The Doctor stood, walking closer to Rory, who was sitting to the side with the recorder in hand "The only way to save Amy is to work out what the Silence are doing."

"I know."

"And every single thing we learn about them brings us a step closer."

"Yeah, Doctor, I get it. I know."

Adelaide adjusted a bit of the suit, considering it as the Doctor walked over. "It's highly possible she's not a normal little girl."

"Well, I'd say she's human, going by the life support software." River paused after speaking, making Adelaide look up at her.

"But?"

"She climbed out of this suit." River held up a bit of frayed wire. "Like she forced her way out. She must be incredibly strong."

The Doctor nodded. "Incredibly strong and running away. I like her." He glanced at Adelaide, but the Time Lady didn't look at him. She'd run away just as much as he had: run away from the Last Great Time War, run through the universe. But there was so much about her that he didn't know. They'd always said they'd needed to have a discussion about their pasts, but they'd never quite managed to have it.

"We should be trying to find her."

"Yes, I know. But how?"

Adelaide eyed River. "I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us."

"Apollo 11, this is Houston," someone said from the television. "How do you read? Over."

The Doctor walked over to the television. "Why does it look like a NASA spacesuit?" River asked Adelaide.

"It's what the Silence do. They have no need to make anything themselves when they can just get other life forms to do it for them."

"So they're parasites, then."

"Superparasites."

"Standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning," the Doctor called. "We know they can influence human behavior any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years…"

"Then what?" Rory asked, and the Time Lords were thankful the man seemed to be paying attention.

Adelaide nodded towards the television. "Then why did humans suddenly decide to go to the moon?"

"Ten, nine. Ignition sequence started. Six, five, four…"

"Because the Silence needed a spacesuit."

"One, zero. All engines running. Liftoff. We have liftoff. Thirty-two minutes past the hour, liftoff on Apollo 11."

A minute later, Adelaide having walked over to stand beside the Doctor in the interim, River called them both back to see the message Canton had sent them. Now they stood above her, watching, while River continued to study aspects of the suit.

"This suit," she said after the recording had finished, "it seems to be repairing itself. How's it doing that?" River looked up. "Doctor, Adelaide, a unit like this, would it ever be able to move without an occupant?"

The Doctor frowned at her. "Why?"

"Well, the little girl said the spaceman was coming to eat her. Maybe that's exactly what happened."

"I love you," they could hear Amy's voice, Rory still listening to it. "I know you think it's him. I know you think it ought to be him, but it's not. It's you. And when I see you again, I'm going to tell you properly, just to see your stupid fact." The Time Lords walked over to stand by Rory. "My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky. So just get your stupid face where I can see it, okay? Okay?"

Amy went quiet, and the Time Lords slid to sit by Rory's side. "She'll be safe for now," the Doctor said quietly. "No point in a dead hostage." Adelaide glared at him for that and the Doctor winced.

"Can't you save her?"

"We can track that signal back, take us right to her."

"Then why haven't you?"

"Because then what?" the Doctor sighed. "We find her and then what do we do? This isn't an alien invasion. They live here. This is their empire."

"This is kicking the Romans out of Rome."

"Rome fell."

The Doctor nodded. "I know. I was there."

Rory looked away from him. "So was I."

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide, waiting until the woman had sighed before speaking again. "Personal question."

"Seriously, you?"

"Do you ever remember it? Two thousand years, waiting for Amy? The last Centurion."

"No."

"You're lying."

"Of course I'm lying," Rory scoffed.

Adelaide nodded. "Of course you are. Not something anyone forgets."

"But I don't remember it all the time. It's like this door in my head. I can keep it shut."

"Please, please, just come and get me," Amy said, sobbing. "Come and get me."

|C-S|

When the Time Lords landed the TARDIS where Amy had been taken, they both ran out instantly, taking in the room around them. Amy was sitting secured in a chair with various Silence around her, and a television playing the moon landing.

"Oh, interesting," the Doctor said. "Very Aickman Road. I've seen one of these before."

Adelaide nodded. "How could it have happened? That one was abandoned."

He shrugged. "Well, I suppose we're about to find out. Rory, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times."

"Terribly sorry, you were in the middle of something?" Adelaide pointed at the television the Doctor grabbed. "Just curious; have you seen what's on the telly?"

"Oh, hello, Amy," the Doctor said, grinning at her. "Are you alright? Want to watch some television?" he put down the television in front of Amy and Adelaide stepped between him and the Silence that started to approach.

"Now, please stay where you are." River pointed her gun at them.

"Because look at me, I'm confident," the Doctor wrapped an arm around Adelaide, spinning them around. "You want to watch that, me when I'm confident because that means I'm impressing Adelaide and I love to do that so I'm just going to get more confident and, well..." He kissed her cheek. "Oh, and this is our friend River. Nice hair, clever, has her own gun and, unlike either of us, she really doesn't mind shooting people. Shouldn't like that, kind of do, a bit."

River grinned at them. "Thank you, sweeties."

"We know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you."

River shrugged. "Oh, the first seven, easily."

Adelaide looked towards her. "Seven? Really?"

"Oh, eight for you."

The Doctor just laughed. "Stop it."

"Make me."

"Yeah? Well, maybe I will."

"Is this really important bickering? Amy called. "Because I feel like I should be higher on the list right now."

Adelaide nodded at her. "Thank you, Amy." She turned to the Silence. "As he was saying, our friend here is going to kill the first three of you to attack, plus that one over there," she gestured towards Rory, who had managed to get over to Amy's side.

"So! Maybe you want to draw lots or have a quiz," the Doctor walked around the console. "Or maybe you could just listen a minute. Because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender and then we'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died, but what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving, now and then?" the aliens said nothing. "Oh, the Silence, you guys take that seriously, don't you." He sighed. "Okay, you got me. I'm lying; Adelaide's quite upset with my over that. We're not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas. First," Adelaide hit a switch on the television as he spoke, "you tell us about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?"

The Silence said nothing.

"Terribly sorry, but you're out of time," Adelaide said. "Would you like a bit of a history lesson? Won't it make you proud to see what you've accomplished?" she extended the antenna. "Do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly?" She pointed at the Doctor.

"Half a billion. And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years, and every single one of them at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it."

On the television, the astronaut prepared to take his first step onto the moon's surface.

"Oh," the Doctor pulled out River's communicator. "But don't forget this bit." He held it up as a phone. "Ready?"

"Ready."

The Doctor, walking forward, stood beside Adelaide as they turned to the television.

"That's one small step for man…" the astronaut said, but then the screen cut to the video of the wounded Silent.

"You should kill us all on sight," the Silent ordered.

"You've given the order for your own execution," the Doctor told them, grinning, "and the whole planet just heard you."

"…one giant leap for mankind," the astronaut finished.

"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence! You just raised an army against yourself and now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it." The Silence stepped forwards, forcing the Time Lords to back up towards the television. "I think, quite possibly, the word you're looking for right now is…" electricity cracked around the Silence's fingers, "oops. Run!"

Adelaide grabbed his hand. "He means us. Run!"

The Silence gathered the electricity in their hands as the Doctor pulled out his sonic, River beginning to shoot the Silence.

"I can't get her out!" Rory shouted, struggling to undo Amy's restraints.

"Go! Go!"

"We are not leaving without you!"

"Look, will you just get your stupid face out of here!" Rory looked stunned, eyes wide.

"Run! Into the TARDIS, quickly!" River ordered them and the Doctor soniced the chair quickly to release Amy and let Rory help her into the TARDIS.

The Doctor pulled Adelaide behind him, despite the Time Lady's protests. "Don't let them build to full power!"

"I know! There's a reason why I'm shooting. What are you doing?"

"Helping!"

"You've got a screwdriver, go build a cabinet!"

"That's quite rude!" Adelaide told her, pulling the Doctor back towards the TARDIS and into safety. Almost immediately, she hit him over the head with his own sonic. "Sonics are not weapons, they're scientific instruments, Doctor, you idiot!" She dragged him back up to the console, avoiding the Doctor's attempts to snatch his sonic back. Somehow, he managed to twist her around so that she was pressed back against the console and he could look quite proud with himself that he'd managed it.

"I'll take that, thank you," he said, trying to pluck it from her hand.

"Um, no." She hid it behind her back. "What's the magic word?"

"Please?"

Adelaide kissed him, which them prompted the Doctor to deepen the kiss.

"We'll give you alone time later!" River shouted, making the Time Lords separate. "Now, can you help me fly the TARDIS?"

The Doctor pouted. "You can let us fly it."

"Yes, or we could go where we're supposed to." River glanced at Adelaide. "Admit it, even you can't fly this right." Adelaide just shrugged, before tossing the Doctor his sonic and getting to work.

|C-S|

They returned to the Oval Office, the Time Lords shaking Nixon's hand while the companions stood at various places behind them.

"So we're safe again," Nixon said, laughing.

"Safe? No, of course you're not safe. There's about a billion other things out there just waiting to burn your whole world." Nixon's smile started to fail, and the Doctor winced when he realized Adelaide would likely scold him for this, though the Time Lady was pretending to have a bit more self-control at the moment. "But, if you want to pretend you're safe, just so you can sleep at night? Okay, you're safe. But you're not really." Adelaide pulled the Doctor backwards to address Canton. "Canton. Until the next one, eh?"

Canton grinned. "Looking forward to it."

Adelaide looked back at Nixon. "Canton does just want to get married. Doesn't seem worth kicking him out of the FBI for that."

Nixon nodded. "I'm sure something can be arranged."

She smiled. "Thank you, Richard." They turned to walk back towards the TARDIS, but then Nixon called after them.

"Er, Doctor, Adelaide," they'd told him her actual name eventually, "Canton here tells me you're…you're from the future. It hardly seems possible, but I was wondering…"

"We should warn you that we don't answer a lot of questions."

"But I'm a President at the beginning of his time. Dare I ask…will I be remembered?"

The Doctor gave a shaky laugh. "Oh, Dicky. Tricky Dicky. They're never going to forget you."

Adelaide waved. "Say hello to David Frost for us." They turned and walked back to the TARDIS, stepping inside after their companions.

"David Frost?" Nixon asked quietly, but the Time Lords said nothing more, just closing the door of the TARDIS.

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide stood before River's cell in the Stormcage, the woman in front of them. "You could come with us," the Doctor offered, nodding back towards where they'd left the TARDIS.

River just smiled. "I escape often enough, thank you. And I have a promise to live up to." She smiled sadly. "You'll understand soon enough."

The Doctor shrugged. "Okay. Up to you." He and Adelaide stepped backward. "Call us."

"What, that's it?" River laughed, making them pause. "What's the matter with you?"

"Have we forgotten something?"

"Oh, shut up." River pulled them into a tight hug, but instead of being touched the Time Lords just frowned. River was normally very careful about what she said or did, especially when she didn't know if Adelaide was a human or not or where in their timelines they were. When she stepped back, she frowned at their expressions. "What's wrong? You're acting like we've never done that before."

Adelaide shook her head. "I'm sorry, River. Not…not yet."

River's eyes widened. "Not yet?"

The Doctor coughed, looking at his watch. "Oh, look at the time. Must be off. But it was very nice. It was…it was good. It was…unexpected…"

"Doctor," Adelaide said. "Stop."

He went silent, and the pair began to back up again. "Well, there's a first time for everything."

They stepped into the TARDIS and left River standing there, watching them, knowing what would happen soon.

|C-S|

A bit later, after Amy and Rory had some alone time, the four of them had recollected in the main room of the TARDIS. "Rory," the Doctor said suddenly, "I'm going to need thermocouplings. The green ones and blue ones."

Rory nodded, going down the stairs to find them for him. "Okay, hold on."

"Thank you, Rory," Adelaide called after him, before the Time Lords turned to look at Amy.

"So…"

"So?"

"You're okay?"

Amy nodded. "Fine. Head's a bit weird. There's loads of stuff I can't quite remember."

"After effect of the Silence," Adelaide said, nodding. "Natural."

"But that's not what I was asking," the Doctor said. "You told us you were pregnant."

Amy swallowed hard. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I was. I mean, I thought I was. It turns out I wasn't."

"No, why did you tell us?"

She shrugged. "Because you're my friends. You're my best friends."

"And did you tell Rory?" Adelaide asked her, making Amy look away.

"No."

"Amy, why did you tell us and not Rory?"

"Why do you think?" the Time Lords just shrugged. "I travelled with you in this TARDIS for so long. All that time…if I was pregnant for some of it, wouldn't it have had an effect? I don't want to tell Rory his baby might have three heads or, like, a timehead or something."

The Doctor frowned. "What's a timehead?"

"I don't know, but what if it had one?"

He laughed. "A timehead?"

"Shut up." Amy turned to face the stairs Rory had gone down. "Oi, stupid face!"

Rory walked back up the stairs, Amy's recorder still in hand. "Uh, yeah? Hello."

Amy sighed. "I'm taking that away from you, if you're going to listen in all the time."

"Okay, that's a fair point. But you should've told me that you thought you were pregnant. I'm a nurse. I'm good with pregnancy."

Amy walked closer to him. "Not, as it turns out, that good. So please stop being stupid."

"Uh, no, never," Rory grinned, wrapping his arms around Amy to swing her around. "I'm never, ever going to stop being stupid."

Adelaide and the Doctor smiled at them, the Time Lord lifting up Adelaide's hand to kiss before clapping his hands. "So, this little girl. It's all about her. Who was she? Or we could just go off and have some adventures. Anyone in the mood for adventures?" He spun Adelaide in a circle. "Adelaide, what do you think?"

She shrugged. "I'm always in the mood for an adventure. You only live once."

They spun each other to the other side of the console, letting their companions think whatever they wanted, to look at the monitor and the scan they'd set running.

It had a picture of Amy and basic information about her. But the most interesting part, the part that had the Time Lords' smiles falling, was the fact it was flickering between a positive and negative pregnancy test.

This wasn't good.

|C-S|

Later, after quite an adventure, the human companions had retreated to their bedroom for a rest and the Time Lords decided to at least sit down for a bit, neither of them really liking not running about, having one adventure or another. They'd ended up on a couch in some random TARDIS room, lying with Adelaide in the Doctor's arms, letting him play with her fingers.

"Let's play a game," she said. "We try to guess something about each other's past and, if we get it right, we get to guess again."

"And if we get it wrong?"

"Whoever gets the most right has to decide the punishment for the other?"

He grinned. "I like this game. Can I start?" Adelaide nodded, adjusting herself against his chest. "You were only child."

"Correct."

"Oh, lucky me. Your favorite color is green."

She looked up at him. "That's not a guess about my past."

He shrugged. "Still got it right, didn't I?"

She flicked his nose for that.

"You lived in the mountains."

"Wrong." The Doctor pouted. "This is the point of the game, idiot. But now it's my turn. You had at least one brother."

"That's cheating."

"Am I right?"

"Yes."

Adelaide laughed. "You had a little sister."

"How did you know?"

She moved so that she could look up at him. "Because I am a genius, Doctor, didn't you know?"

"Oh, I'm well aware of that." He kissed her, and for the remainder of their game there was also an aspect of every time they got a guess right, they got a kiss.

Eventually, that did just become the game, but neither of them was that upset about it.

At least, Adelaide tried not to be that upset about it, because if she were to be honest there was a growing uncomfortable feeling in her stomach that was getting harder to ignore.

 **A/N: Well, the Time Lords did get a bit distracted, now didn't they ;) These chapters have been some of the sweetest for the pair of them. So much open flirting. Though it does make me excited for what's in their futures...and what's hinted here...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _AGBreads: Thank you!_


	5. Theories

**Theories**

For once, Adelaide wasn't that upset about the fact they were landing the TARDIS below the deck of a ship instead of approaching in the traditional fashion. Of course, that wasn't to say she wasn't unhappy, but she didn't protest; a 17th century Earth ship had managed to send a distress signal that actually reached the TARDIS. She was more curious about how that was possible than anything else, which was thankfully a curiosity the Doctor shared.

The pair of them had just stepped out of the TARDIS when they heard a scream. A few moments later, they could hear a lot of footsteps, seemingly the majority of the crew, moving about the deck above them. "Same as all the others," a voice said. "No sign of a struggle, no bones or blood."

"We're shark bait," someone else said, "every single one of us. Stuck on the ocean, waiting."

The Time Lords walked underneath the hatch. "Until the wind changes." The Doctor climbed on top of a crate and, after pleading with Adelaide silently, helped her up as well; Amy and Rory exchanged a slightly worried expression. Then he banged twice on the hatch. "What's that?" They could just see the man, watching him pull out a weapon at that sound.

"It's the creature, it's returned!"

A small group of the men approached the hatch nervously, but they didn't get that far before the Doctor just shoved the hatch open with a grin, one Adelaide couldn't help but share; as much as she preferred manners, there was something quite exciting about just bursting into a pirate ship. "Yo ho ho!" the men just stared at them until the Time Lords's faces fell. "Or does nobody actually say that?"

|C-S|

The first man who'd spoken, the captain, leaned against a chair in his quarters, a crewmate beside him while others blocked the exit. "We made no signal," the captain stressed to them, which wasn't making Adelaide feel any more comfortable.

"Our sensors picked you up. Ship in distress."

The captain frowned. "Sensors?"

"Our ship automatically received word that your ship had run into some trouble," Adelaide provided. Despite having interacted with various alien races in various stages of development since that had been one of her favorite things - to watch a society grow - she hadn't spent that much time exploring human history. She didn't actually know how best to explain what had happened and it was clear the Doctor wasn't going to be much help, but she could try her best.

"That big blue crate?"

"That is more magic, Captain Avery," the man beside the captain said. "They're spirits. How else would they have found their way below decks?"

"Well," the Doctor shrugged, "I want to say multi-dimensional engineering, but since you had a problem with sensors…" Adelaide hit the Doctor quite hard on the side "I won't go there."

"My name is Adelaide, this is the Doctor, and that's Amy and Rory. We're all…sailors."

"Ooo, arrr," the Doctor added, leaning forward to hit the captain in the shoulder before, for some reason, deciding to turn his back on the man, which did allow the captain to pull a gun on him. Adelaide just nodded towards it, which made the Doctor spin again. "Except for the gun thing. And the beardy-ness."

"You're stowaways," the captain concluded. "Only explanation. Eight days, we've been stranded here, becalmed. You must have stowed away before we sailed."

The man next to him nodded. "Now, what do we do with 'em?"

"Oh, I think they deserve our hospitality."

When the Doctor looked at Adelaide with a proud expression, she just shook her head at him.

|C-S|

Even though Adelaide was fairly certain the Doctor had a plan, the sight of him being pushed further and further down a plank was not one she enjoyed seeing. She was almost certain that, if she were not being held back by a pirate - though the man honestly didn't seem to be trying that hard - she would have fought her way to the Doctor...even if she didn't really know how to fight.

It was just…the sight of him in danger, the thought of losing him…she couldn't bear it. And maybe it was just because he was the last Time Lord, and if he died she'd be left alone, and maybe she was being foolish to combine that feeling and what she thought was love. But she didn't want him to die. Not him.

Anyone else, even her, but not him.

She almost wished they had some sort of mental connection just so she'd be able to know if he did actually have a plan, but having that connection would mean he'd be able to hear her worrying herself almost sick over him and she didn't think she'd be able to bear that.

The Doctor glanced back at them, glowering slightly at the fact the pirates were still laughing at him. "I suppose that laughing like that is in the job description," he mumbled. "Can you do the laugh? Check. Grab yourself a parrot." He glanced back down at the water, shifting his weight enough to make the plank bounce. If they both survived this adventure, Adelaide was going to kill the Doctor for making her worry like that. "Welcome aboard."

"Stocks are low," Avery said. "Only one barrel of water remains. We don't need four more empty bellies to fill. Take the doxies below to the galley." The pirates holding Amy and Adelaide began to pull them back. "Set them to work, they won't need much feeding."

The Doctor's eyes widened and he tried to turn back, but the pirates brandished their weapons at him. "Adelaide?"

"Rory?" Amy called to her husband. "A little help?"

"Yeah, hey, listen, right?" Rory pointed at the pirates. "They're not doxies…"

"I didn't mean just tell him off, thanks anyway." Amy and Adelaide were forced under the deck, something neither Time Lord was quite happy about.

The moment Amy landed she hurried towards a chest of cutlasses, something that did make Adelaide wince. Weapons, even seventeenth-century ones, were not her preferred course of action.

Unless, of course, the Doctor was busy attempting to stall being forced to walk the plank. Then she quite liked cutlasses.

Amy also spotted a blue jacket and black hat which she happily took when Adelaide shook her head at it. Then, once they had agreed they were properly suited up, they climbed back onto the deck and approached the pirates silently, waiting for the perfect moment to surprise them.

"Boo!" Amy said, holding out the cutlass. Adelaide did the same, glaring with far more intensity than the Doctor had ever seen. "Throw the gun down."

The Doctor hurried back along the plank as the captain tossed his gun to the floor, letting Adelaide, since she could actually be somewhat trusted with a weapon, pick it up to keep anyone else from grabbing it. "The rest of you," Adelaide ordered, "on your knees."

"Amy, Adelaide, what are you doing?"

"Saving your life," Amy told him. "Okay with that, are you?"

"Put down the sword. A sword could kill us all, girl."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, thanks. That is actually why I'm pointing it at you." She pointed her weapon at the captain.

One of the crew leapt forward, attacking Amy, but he quickly redirected the fight to Adelaide, who stepped in front of the human. The Doctor leapt from the plank but was only grabbed by Avery and held back from the fight, which had ended abruptly as the man backed away again.

The rest of the crew gathered around, but each time they attempted to step forward either Adelaide or Amy brandished their weapon at them and the men stepped back. Amy was seeming to get quite excited about how good at sword fighting they were, but Adelaide was a bit more confused. She was fairly certain pirates weren't meant to be recoiling so much from a sword, even if it was a woman fighting them.

Eventually, Adelaide just pushed Amy towards the upper section of the deck to keep her out of harm's way. Even if Adelaide was completely against using weapons in any way, that didn't mean she hadn't learned how to sword fight at some point in her history. Not necessarily from Earth, of course, but close enough.

The man who'd been holding Rory stepped forward, swinging a rope, but Adelaide just took advantage of a Time Lord's advanced reflexes and kept dodging. Before she could do anything, however, Amy swung from the upper level of the deck and slashed the man in the hand, finally landing on a barrel.

All the men stopped, staring at the injured man in horror.

"You have killed me," the man said, shaking.

Amy frowned. "No way. It's just a cut. What kind of rubbish pirates are you?"

Avery glared at them. "One drop, that's all it takes. One drop of blood and she'll rise out of the ocean."

"Come on, I barely even scratched him," Amy scoffed. "What are you all in such a huff about?"

Another man rushed towards Amy, but when Amy tried to swing again he just grabbed her legs. Rory ran forward to catch the weapon, but somehow only ended up cutting his hand. "Ow!" men rushed forward again, grabbing Rory and Adelaide in the process. Rory held up his hand. "Uh, Doctor, Adelaide, what's happening to me?" Adelaide struggled to see, but it looked like there was a large black spot on his palm.

"She can smell the blood on your skin," Avery said. "She's marked you for death."

"She?"

"A demon, out there in the ocean."

The Doctor grinned, pulling himself out of Avery's grip. "Okay, groovy. So not just pirates today. We've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a demon popping in. Very efficient." He walked over to Rory to look at his hand. "I mean, if something's going to kill toy, it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you."

Suddenly, there was ethereal singing and all the men loosened their grips on their prisoners.

"Quickly now, block out the sound," the man with the cut hand put his hands over his ears.

"What?"

"The creature," Avery backed away from the ocean. "She charms all her victims with that song."

"Oh, great. So, put my fingers in my ears, that's your plan?" Rory sighed. "Doctor, come on. Let's go. Let's get back to the er…back to the er…" he started to stagger, giggling.

"The music," one of the men said. "It's working on him. Look."

Rory turned to Amy, hanging from a nearby rope. "You are so beautiful."

"What?"

"I love your get up! That's great. You should dress as a pirate more often." He stumbled forwards. "Hey, hey, cuddle me, shipmate." He reached out to hug her.

"Rory, stop," Amy tried to keep him off of her.

"Everything is totally brilliant, isn't it? Look at these brilliant pirates. Look at their brilliant beards!" he pointed at the one who'd been holding Amy. "I'd like a beard. I'm going to grow a beard." He stumbled backward, running into the other man.

Amy shook her head. "You're not."

"The music turns them into fools," Avery told the Time Lords, who just nodded as the two men started laughing.

"Oh my God."

They all turned to see a light appearing from the water, drifting upwards. Adelaide and the Doctor moved closer to each other, backing away from the light as it slowly formed into the figure of a woman. Rory and the injured pirate reached their hands out towards it, though Amy was pulling Rory back. The figure landed on the deck, walking forwards, and the Doctor and Adelaide didn't try that hard to keep the pirate from walking towards her, both of them honestly a bit too distracted by their curiosity.

The pirate grinned, reaching out a hand towards her, but the moment he touched her he disintegrated into ash. Everyone but Rory jerked backward, that man instead moving closer to the woman, even with Amy still holding on tight.

"I have to touch her," Rory mumbled, fighting Amy. "Let me touch her."

Amy moved to stand in front of Rory, pushing her husband back closer to the Time Lords. "Sorry, but he is spoken for."

The woman turned a bright red and screamed at Amy, sending her flying backward.

"Amy!" the Doctor ran towards his companion, Adelaide taking charge of holding back Rory.

"Everybody into the hold," Adelaide ordered. "Come on, Rory!" she dragged Rory with her, somehow managing to get the man to come with her despite how much he was fighting.

Thankfully, Amy hadn't gone unconscious, and once they reached the hold Adelaide was able to pass Rory off to his wife so that the Time Lords could move closer together.

"What is that thing?" Amy asked the pirates, holding tight to Rory.

"The legend. The siren," Avery said. "Many a merchant ship laden with treasure has fallen prey to her. She's been hunting us ever since we were becalmed, picking off the injured."

"Like a shark," a man said. "A shark can smell blood."

The Doctor nodded. "Okay. Just like a shark, in a dress…and singing…and green? A green singing shark in an evening gown."

"The ship is cursed!"

Adelaide sighed. "You humans are obsessed with curses. All it means is bad things are happening but you can't be bothered to look for a logical explanation."

"She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Rory said, taking Amy's face.

"Actually, I think you'll find she isn't," Amy hugged Rory so that she could speak over his shoulder. "We have to leave, right now."

"That thing of yours really is a ship?" Avery asked them.

The Doctor shrugged, turning his back on the man. "Well, it's not propelled by the wind."

"Show me!" Avery pulled out another gun. "Weigh anchor. Make it sail."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "The gun, again? You really like guns, don't you?"

The Doctor turned back around, frowning. "Freud would say you're compensating." He glanced at Adelaide. "Ever met Freud?" She made a face and he shrugged. "Comfy sofa."

"Bad science."

"Leave the cursed one, Captain," one of the pirates said. "The creature can have him."

Rory nodded quite vigorously. "Yes, please."

Avery nodded. "We don't want the siren coming after us."

Suddenly, the pirate who'd spoken screamed, and they all turned to see him yanking his leg out of the water to see a leech.

"It's a leech!"

"Everyone out of the water!" the Doctor ordered, everyone scrambling to the tops of crates.

"It's bitten me! I'm bleeding," the man pulled the leech from his leg and threw it into the water, but then held up his hand, seeing the black spot on it.

The Doctor frowned. "She wants blood. Why does she want blood?"

"What were you saying about leaving the cursed ones behind?"

"It's okay, we're safe down here. No curse is getting through three solid inches of timber."

Adelaide just shook her head. "Don't…"

The siren appeared from the water, drawing the pirate and Rory towards her. "Oh!" the Doctor said, grinning. "Ah, hello again."

Despite their best efforts to try and grab the pirate, the man ran forwards and touched the siren, bursting on contact.

Quickly, the Time Lords worked to bring everyone into another room, locking the door behind them.

"Safe?" Amy said, thankfully still having managed to keep a hold on Rory.

The Doctor shrugged. "I have my good days and my bad days."

"In the future, let me say when we're safe, Doctor," Adelaide told him, glaring at the man. How on any planet in any universe had he believed them safe? They weren't even safe now, not if there was any water in this room.

"How did she get in?" Avery asked.

"The water," Adelaide said, not even needing to clarify with the Doctor first, especially since the man was in the process of studying a hat he'd found. "She can materialize through a single drop. We need to go somewhere with no water."

Amy sighed, rolling her eyes. "Well, thank God we're not in the middle of the ocean."

"Manners, Amy."

"Did you see her eyes?" Rory said, his words slurring slightly. "Like crystal pools."

"You are in enough trouble."

Avery's eyes widened. "The magazine."

"What?"

"He means the armory where the powder's stored," the Doctor said, putting on the hat.

Avery nodded. "It's dry as a bone."

"Good. Let's go there!" the Doctor stepped forward, only for Avery to point his gun at the man again, something that just made Adelaide sigh.

"I give the orders."

"Ah. Worried because I'm wearing a hat now?" Adelaide just plucked the hat from the Doctor's head. "Nobody touch anything sharp!"

They all turned to the door as one of the pirates hunted for the key. "Quickly, man!" Avery ordered, annoyed at the fact the man was taking far too long.

"I can't find the key. Tis gone, Cap'n."

Avery shook his head. "How can it have gone?"

Adelaide reached forward and touched the door, making it swing open. "Someone else had the same idea."

Slowly, they all stepped in, looking around carefully for any sign of who had stolen the key. "Barricade the door," Avery ordered. "Careful of that lantern. Every barrel is full of powder."

The Doctor took Adelaide's hand for a moment. "Who's been sleeping in my gun room?"

They heard a faint coughing and Avery stormed over to a barrel and opened it, pulling out a young boy. "You fool!" he held the boy against the wall. "You fool, boy. What are you doing here?"

"Who is he?" a crew member asked, making the Doctor frown.

"What, he's not one of the crew?"

"No. He's my son." Avery put the boy down and sat on a barrel, the rest of the crew moving a bit away, though they still watched. "What in God's name possessed you, boy? Your mother will be searching for you!" the boy looked away. "When?"

"Last winter. Fever. She told me all about you. How you were a captain in the Navy. An honorable man, she said, how I'd be proud to know you." He coughed again. "I've come to join your crew."

"I don't want you here."

"You can't send me back." The Time Lords couldn't help but smile. "It's too late. We're a hundred miles from home."

"It's dangerous here. There is a monster aboard. She leaves a mark on men's skin…"

"The black spot?" the boy held up his hand to reveal the spot, coughing as everyone's eyes widened.

|C-S|

Avery stood close to the Time Lords and Amy, with Rory sitting a bit in front of them studying his hand. The rest of the crew was scattered about the room, with the young boy, named Toby, still coughing.

"There's nothing wrong with the boy," Avery said quietly. "He has no scars."

The Doctor nodded. "Yep. Ignore my last theory." He turned to Adelaide. "You can be in charge of theories from now on."

"I've always been in charge of theories."

Amy leaned forward, gesturing towards the Doctor. "When she lets him, he has his good days and his bad days."

"Mostly bad days," Adelaide said. "The siren comes for the sick and wounded. It must know he has a fever."

The Doctor shook his head. "Humans. Second-rate. Damage too easily. It's only a matter of time before everyone gets bruised. My ship, it can sail us all away from here. You and me, we fetch it," he gestured between him and the captain. "Let's go."

Unsurprisingly, the captain pulled his gun again. "You're not the Captain here, remember."

Adelaide looked over at Toby just as the boy opened the lid on a barrel of water, letting a green hand shoot out of it. She rushed over and slammed it shut.

"The water's dangerous!" Avery shouted. "That's how she gets through. One touch of her hand and you're a dead man."

Adelaide couldn't help but glare at him. "Inside voices, please."

One of the pirates shook his head. "We're all cursed if we stay aboard."

"It's not a curse," the Doctor pointed out. "Curse means game over. Curse means we're helpless. We are not helpless." He turned to Avery, finally having learned. "Captain, what's our next move?"

Avery looked at his crew. "Wait with the boy." He stepped over to his son and put a medallion around the boy's neck.

"Captain, we're all in danger here."

"I said wait. And barricade the door after we've gone."

Amy grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Sure you want to go?"

"We have to get Rory and Toby away. She's out there now, licking her lips, boiling a saucepan, grating cheese."

Amy sighed. "Okay. Well, remember, if you get an itch, don't scratch too hard."

He shrugged. "We've all got to go some time. There are worse ways than having your face snogged off by a dodgy mermaid." Even Rory laughed at that and then the companions stepped back to let the Time Lords have a moment.

They'd discussed it earlier, the fact that one of them would need to go with Avery to get the TARDIS while the other stayed here. It had taken the Doctor promising they'd go straight to the TARDIS and bring it right back for Adelaide to agree since Adelaide was fairly certain he'd get distracted otherwise.

Honestly, she'd probably have gotten distracted too, but they'd agreed she would be just a bit better at calming any argument that could break out - if only because there was a child in the room - because of the basic fact she wouldn't pick a side and he would.

"Be careful, and keep him safe," Adelaide nodded towards Avery.

"I'm always careful." She just raised her eyebrows. "I'll try this time."

She laughed. "That's the most I can hope from you." She kissed him quickly before pushing him back slightly. "Go fetch the TARDIS."

The Doctor leapt forward to give her another kiss before leaving with Avery, all of the men barricading the door behind them.

Amy and Adelaide moved to sit together closer to Toby, watching the other pirates, but it didn't take that long before Rory walked over to talk to Amy. "What's wrong?"

"The most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

Rory groaned. "Oh, tell me I didn't really say that." Thankfully, that resulted in Amy laughing.

"What's happening?" Adelaide said suddenly, standing. Two of the crewmen were at the door and working on taking down the barricade.

"We're not staying here to mollycoddle the boy," one of the men said. "The Captain's gone soft. It's time for us to leave."

Toby stood, pushing in front of Adelaide. "He told you to wait, you dog. He's your Captain, a Naval Officer. You're honor-bound to do as he tells you."

"Toby…"

"Honor-bound?" the man scoffed. "Do you know what kind of ship this? Do you know what your father does?"

"He is a child," Adelaide told the man as Amy wrapped her arm around Toby, keeping him back. "I'd advise you to watch your tongue."

The man didn't listen. "We sail under the black flag. The Jolly Roger."

Toby pulled himself from Amy's arm. "Liar! He's no wicked pirate!"

"Oh, you think so? I have seen your father gun down a thousand innocent men."

"If you continue speaking like this, I will punch you in the face." Perhaps Adelaide wasn't the best person to stay with the pirates after all. Certainly, she wasn't known for getting into fights with anyone, but she really couldn't stand when someone was being rude. And telling a young child something like this, regardless of what time they were in, was not something she would stand by and watch.

Not that she thought she'd actually be able to punch anyone, let alone a pirate.

The pirate just scoffed at her. "Get what treasure you can," he told the other men. "I'll meet you in the row boat."

"You're going to remain at your post," Toby said, stepping forward and brandishing a cutlass. Adelaide had thought she and Amy had hidden their cutlasses, but it appeared the boy was quicker than they thought.

The man's eyes widened. "I'm not playing games with you, boy. You put that down."

"One more step and I'll use this, you blaggard."

"You don't know how to fight with a cutlass, boy."

Toby just shrugged. "Don't need to, do I?" he leapt forward, swiping at the man's hand and cutting it. Adelaide instantly dragged him back, plucking the weapon from him.

"No!" he held up his hand, the black spot already forming. "You little swabber!"

"Congratulations," Amy said. "You made it to the menu. Probably shouldn't go out there now."

The pirate grabbed his gun, but Adelaide held up her hand. "Don't you dare shoot," she warned. "The gunpowder will blow and kill us all."

A taller pirate pulled the keys off the black spotted pirate. "Mulligan," the man said, "what are you doing?"

Mulligan just rushed out of the door and shut it behind him.

Amy shook her head. "No honor among pirates."

 **A/N: Adelaide being in charge of theories is something that's going to last for quite a while. She comes up with the theories, he comes up with the plans. A good pair ;)**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _AGBreads: Thank you!_

 _Isabelnecessaryonabicycle: I'm so glad that you're looking forward to the future of it! Always a good thing for a writer to hear :)_


	6. Questions

**Questions**

The Doctor was not happy about the fact he'd had to leave Adelaide in a room filled with pirates, but he was especially not happy about the fact that the TARDIS, their only way of getting out, had just flown off on its own. And the fact that Adelaide would probably blame him for it, even if she wouldn't say it.

The pair of them made their way back towards Avery's quarters since, apparently, it was closer than the magazine. But they hadn't gotten far when Mulligan appeared, decked in treasure and with two guns aimed at them.

"Mulligan, what are you doing?" Avery asked, glaring. Mulligan just pushed them back more. "This is mutiny!"

"She doesn't want me," Mulligan pushed his way past them. "She only wants Toby." Now he was standing behind them. "And the scrawny looking fella." And then he ran off.

"He's got the last of the supplies," the Doctor said, looking after him. "We should go after him."

"Never mind the damned supplies. What about my treasure?" Avery ran after Mulligan, following him to another storeroom where Mulligan fired at them and forced them to duck out of the way.

"Don't get injured!" the Doctor told Avery. "Don't get injured!"

They ran after Mulligan just until he ran into a room and locked the door behind him. "Come out of there, you mutinous dog!" The Doctor rushed up to sonic the door open, but they both stepped back when they heard the siren song, checking for any injuries. They looked down as the green light shone from under the door.

"She's inside," the Doctor whispered.

"She's come for Mulligan." And then Mulligan screamed.

The Doctor rushed forward again, opening the door and letting them rush inside. He turned in a circle as he soniced the room while Avery went for the golden crown that had fallen to the ground.

"No water in here," Avery said. "How did she take him? Your woman said she uses water like a door, that's how she enters a room."

"She was wrong." And then he froze, looking around as though Adelaide could hear him and she would scold him, even though part of him knew that she'd more likely welcome being proven wrong. "Don't you dare tell her I said that." Avery just scoffed at him. "We're all in danger. The water's not how she's getting in." He was fairly certain Adelaide would kill him when she learned he was making theories, but they had no mental connection for him to ask for her help, so he was on his own now. "When we were down in the hold, think what happened. You, me, Adelaide, Amy, Rory, leeches."

"She sprang from the water."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, only when it grew still. Still water. Nature's mirror."

"So…you mean…" Avery looked down at the crown.

"Yes. Not water. Reflection." The Doctor pointed at the crown. "That siren legend, the curse!"

"You both said curses weren't real!"

He shrugged. "Folklore springs from truth. She attacks ships filled with treasure. Where else do you get a perfect reflection?"

"Polished metal." Avery looked down where his medallion must have normally hung, the medallion he had given to his son, the medallion that was with Adelaide. The Doctor hid the crown beneath his jacket before turning and running off, not giving Avery an attempt to say "we must warn them!"

They rushed through the ship, banging on the door the moment they reached it. "Adelaide! Open the-" He didn't need to finish the sentence because Adelaide had already opened the door looking some combination of confused and worried. "Medallion!"

She didn't ask, just turned and grabbed the medallion that Toby had been polishing from his hand, sticking it deep into her pocket. "Let me guess, it doesn't come through water?"

The Doctor nodded, grabbing Adelaide's hand and pulling her towards the captain's quarters. "We've got to destroy every reflection." He grabbed a musket and started to smash the windows. "Gold, silver, glass, she could spring from any of them." The Doctor turned and saw the mirror Adelaide had just held up, smashing it before looking towards Avery. "Oh, yes, yes, I know, I know. Very bad luck to break it. But look at it this way; there's a stroppy homicidal mermaid trying to kill all."

Avery shook his head. "How much worse can things get?"

"We need to take these out," Adelaide called, making them all turn. She had moved to stand beside a table with a large box of treasure on it. She hadn't needed the Doctor to explain exactly what he'd determined; he'd been gone for some time, she'd already begun to think that, perhaps, the siren didn't need just water. It had been confirmed when the Doctor had run up shouting about a medallion.

Avery and the Doctor came over to lift it. "Where are we taking it?" Avery asked.

"The ocean."

"No! No! This is the treasure of the Mogul of India."

The Doctor shrugged. "Oh, good. For a moment there I thought it was yours."

"No, no, Doctor, Adelaide, wait. Must we do this?"

"Any reflection, any mirror, and the siren will attack." Avery looked away. "We have to protect Rory and Toby."

Adelaide touched Avery's shoulder. "Get the crown from the storeroom."

Avery nodded, leaving the Time Lords to throw the gold out of the windows. "Just so you know, Doctor," Adelaide said, not looking at him, "I will forgive you for the fact you had a theory without me."

He paused and kissed her quickly, managing to catch her before she ducked out of the way.

|C-S|

"Just wait?" Rory asked them as the Time Lords walked away to stand closer to the captain.

"My part of the plan," the Doctor offered, an arm around Adelaide's shoulder. "She's still upset with me."

"TARDIS?"

Adelaide shrugged. "It's been taken, apparently."

Amy's eyes widened. "What?"

"Sorry, we might be stuck here for a while."

"So you're saying that we should all just wait here below?"

Avery nodded. "The sea is still calm, like a mirror. If you go out on the deck she'll rise up and attack you."

"It's okay, the calm won't last forever. When the wind picks up we'll all set sail."

"Until it does, you have to hide down here."

|C-S|

The Time Lords sat on the deck of the ship since neither of them had the mark. Adelaide sat in the Doctor's arms, both of them looking up at the stars and testing each other on their names...and going on tangents about some sort of adventure that had happened relating to the star. It was quite an enjoyable task and was good for passing the time since they didn't have a TARDIS.

She didn't blame the Doctor for losing the TARDIS, but she was still annoyed about it.

They looked over when they heard someone walking up to see Avery joining them. The Doctor pointed up at a particular star, the one he and Adelaide had just been discussing. "It's not one star, it's two."

"The Dog star, Sirius," Adelaide explained. "Binary system."

Avery shrugged. "I use it to navigate the ocean."

"We've travelled far, like you," the Doctor said. "Space can be very lonely, and the greatest adventure is having someone share it with you." He kissed Adelaide's cheek, making her smile.

"If we get out of this I'll take him back to England. He can't stay with me. I'm not the father he needs."

Adelaide looked over at Avery, frowning. "How did this happen, Henry Avery? Respected naval officer with a wife and child at home. How did you end up wandering the oceans with a band of rogues?"

Avery shook his head, looking down. "I've set my course now. Nothing I can do to alter it."

She nodded up at the sky. "People stared at it for centuries and never knew."

The Doctor nodded and the pair of them stood. "Things can suddenly change, when you're least expecting."

|C-S|

Since their privacy had been interrupted, the Time Lords had retreated to the captain's quarters. Not that they were going to do anything, not on a pirate ship, but they preferred to talk about their lives where other people wouldn't easily be able to hear them. There were secrets in the lives of the last two Time Lords, secrets they couldn't risk letting someone else hear.

However, almost as soon as they arrived, they paused to look out the window, frowning. It felt almost like someone was…

"Doctor? Adelaide?" Amy said quietly.

"Shush…" the Doctor frowned.

She came up beside them. "What can you see?"

"Feels like something's out there. Staring straight at us…" thunder rumbled through the sky. "Man the sails!" he shouted, turning and running back up onto deck.

|C-S|

Very quickly, it began to rain quite hard. Avery hung from a rope while Amy and Rory rushed up. "To the rigging, you dogs!" he shouted at them. "Let go the sails. Avast ye!" They ran off to the sails. "Put the bunt into the slack of the clews!"

Adelaide ran up to steer the ship while the Doctor ran to help Avery. "Toby!" Avery called at his son, spotting the boy trying to make his way towards him. "Find my coat. My compass is inside it, boy." He glanced back over at Amy and Rory. "Heave ho, you bilge rats!"

Somehow, the clanging sound broke through the sound from the storm, and everyone looked over to see the crown rolling away from Toby, having fallen from the coat. It rolled to a stop just a bit away from him and, a second later, the siren flew out of it and landed before Toby, holding a hand out to him.

"Don't let her take you!" Avery shouted, trying to make his way towards his son as the boy walked towards the Siren. "No!" Toby reached out a hand, touched the siren, and vanished. "No!" Avery collapsed to the ground, Amy pulling Rory away from the siren.

The Doctor ran forward and tossed the crown into the ocean, making the siren fade away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Avery wept, just staring at where his son had vanished.

"You couldn't give up the gold, could you," the Doctor snapped, almost thankful Adelaide was still too far away to criticize him for his rudeness. "That's why you turned pirate. Your commission, your wife, your son. Just how much is that treasure worth to you, man?"

There was a scream as a sail, swinging loose, hit Rory and threw him overboard. "Rory!" Amy ran to the side of the boat, searching for her husband. "Rory! I can't see him!" The Doctor ran over, Adelaide coming down to that level of deck. "Doctor! I'm going in!"

"He's drowning," the Doctor said, grabbing Amy's arm to stop her taking off her jacket. "He's drowning! You go in after him, you'll drown too. There's only one thing that can save him now."

"What are you talking about?"

The Doctor looked back at Adelaide, who was standing closer to the barrels. "The siren. The siren, she wants him. We have to release her."

Amy's eyes widened. "Adelaide, no!"

But Adelaide didn't listen. She opened the barrel of water and let the siren fly out as the Doctor dragged Amy away. "He's drowning! Go and find him!" The siren dived into the water.

"What did you do?"

"If he stays in there he'll die," the Doctor said.

"But she'll destroy him."

Adelaide shook her head. "She's not a ravenous hunter; she's intelligent. We'll be able to reason with her and it's highly possible they're still alive somewhere." She took a deep breath. "We have to follow them."

"Are you mad?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps. But if you ever want to see them again, we're going to need to let the siren take us."

The Doctor nodded. "We'll prick our fingers. All agreed?" he pulled a nail from his jacket. "Yeah?"

It took Avery a second to nod. "Aye."

Then Amy. "Aye."

The Doctor reached for Adelaide's hand, not needing to ask her; she had come up with the plan, after all. An exchange of their newly defined roles. Squeezing it, he pricked a finger on the other hand, then Avery, then Amy, and finally his own.

The siren appeared almost instantly, holding out her hand to all of them. And they all reached out to touch her.

|C-S|

The moment the Doctor sat up he searched for Adelaide, thankful that she was sitting next to him, still holding hands. They'd woken on a metal floor and slowly Amy and Avery were waking beside them.

"Where are we?" Amy said, groaning.

"We haven't moved," the Doctor said, pointing towards a window nearby. "We're in exactly the same place as before." They all stood, looking through the window to see the deck of the ship they'd just been standing on, still trapped in a storm.

"We're on a ghost ship," Avery breathed, his eyes wide.

"No, it's real," Adelaide said, glancing around. "This spaceship is trapped in a temporal rift."

"How can two ships be in the same place?"

"Not the same," she corrected. "Two planes, two worlds."

"Two cards parked in the same space," the Doctor offered. "There are lots of different universes nested inside each other. Now and again they collide, and you can step from one to the other."

Amy nodded. "Okay, I think I understand."

"Good, because it's not like that at all." He shrugged. "But if that helps."

Amy sighed. "Thanks."

Adelaide picked up a piece of metal from the ground, throwing it at the window. "All the reflections have become gateways."

"Ever look in a mirror and think you're seeing a whole other world? Well, this time it's not an illusion."

There was a quiet beeping noise behind them and they turned, beginning to follow it. "The signal?" Amy guessed.

"Yes."

"The distress call."

"Uh huh."

"There was a second ship here all the time."

There was a faint singing sound further in the ship. "And the siren is on board." The Doctor hit a button on a nearby door to reveal an alien skeleton. They all stepped back from the shock, Avery even pulling out his gun, but he lowered it.

Adelaide frowned at it, not recognizing the species, and that alone surprised her...and annoyed her. "Dead."

Carefully, they slipped around the alien into the bridge of the ship. There were more skeletons here, the one in the pilot's seat looking towards the captain's quarters from Avery's ship. The Time Lords stepped up to the alien to study it, while Amy and Avery looked out at the other ship.

"You were right," Amy said. "There was something strange staring at us the whole time. How long has this ship been marooned here?"

Avery glanced back at the skeleton. "Long enough for the Captain to have run out of grog."

Amy shook her head. "I don't understand. If this is the Captain, then what's the siren?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Same as us. A stowaway."

"She killed it?"

Adelaide held up her sonic's results, comparing them with the Doctor's before speaking. "Human bacteria."

"What?"

"A virus from your planet," Adelaide nodded towards Amy. "Airborne, somehow traveled through the portal. That's what killed it."

"Didn't get its jabssss…" The Doctor grimaced, pulling his hand away from the console. He'd started to lean against it for balance, only to put his hand right in the slime that covered it. "Urh." He held it up to Adelaide. "Look."

She sighed at him. "Really, Doctor? There are better ways to go about that. Like not touching the strange substance with your bare skin."

He grinned. "Alien bogies!" Then he tried to shake his hand to get it off, only for nothing to happen. Instead, he just moved to wipe it on Amy's jacket, but Adelaide grabbed his shoulder.

"You have towels in your jacket," she reminded him, reaching in for it while taking care not to touch the slime herself. "At least pretend you have some semblance of manners." When he tried to get the slime on her again, she swat his wrist with the towel before tossing it on his face, walking past him to another room.

It seemed to be some sort of medical ward, given the number of people lying on tables hanging from the ceiling with their shirts and shoes off. There were various tubes connected to them, monitoring them in some way.

"McGrath!" Avery rushed past her, pointing at one of them. "He's one of my men!"

Amy walked up to him. "He's still breathing."

"My entire crew is here." Avery looked around. "Toby!" he rushed to his son.

"Rory!" Amy did the same to her husband.

"The TARDIS!" the Doctor ran up to the ship, kissing the door.

Adelaide, in turn, was studying one of the men and the machinery around it.

"We have to get them out of here!" Avery shouted, moving to unstrap his son.

"Wait," Adelaide called, walking over to him and scanning the boy quickly. "His fever's gone."

Amy glanced over. "He looks so well."

Adelaide nodded. "She's keeping him alive. His brain is still active, but all its cellular activity is suspended." She glanced up at the Doctor, the man standing on the other side of the boy. "It's a tissue sample."

He frowned. "Why get samples of people you're about to kill?"

"Help me get him up," Amy said, unstrapping Rory. They hadn't gotten far before a beeping sounded and the siren's song began to echo through the room.

"She's coming," the Doctor breathed, and they all ran to hide behind a panel station. Even if Adelaide was beginning to believe the siren wasn't a threat, even she could admit the siren wouldn't take well to knowing there were strangers on the ship.

The siren floated up to Rory, who was now awake. She held a hand above him and, after singing for a few seconds, he fell back asleep.

"Anesthetic."

Avery looked at the Time Lords. "What?"

"The music. The song. So she anesthetizes people and puts their body in stasis."

The siren moved towards Toby, making Avery stand with his gun out. "Avery, no!"

But Avery didn't listen and shot at the siren, which only turned red. She spun to look at him, hissing. The Doctor ran around to the other side of the siren and sneezed, Adelaide working on keeping Amy from danger.

The siren stopped a bit away from Avery and turned towards the Doctor, creating fire between their hands. "Fire, that's new," the Doctor said. "What does fire do? Burn? Yes. Destroy? What else?"

"Sterilize!" Adelaide called.

His eyes widened. "I sneezed! I've brought germs in." He blew his nose into a hanky and threw it away, watching the siren send the fire at it instead of him.

"Amy, no!" Adelaide shouted, Amy managing to pull away when Adelaide was distracted. "Don't interfere," the siren turned to Amy instead. "Don't touch him."

"Anesthetic, tissue sample, screen, sterile working conditions…" the Doctor glanced at Adelaide, seeing her manage to nod at him. As expected, she'd already realized what he'd just determined. "Ignore all our previous theories!"

"Yeah?" Amy scoffed. "Well, we stopped paying attention a while back. Especially to yours."

"She's not a killer, she's a doctor!"

Amy froze with the news, having been attempting to mess with Rory's life support. The siren returned to the calm green from before.

"This is an automated sick bay," Adelaide explained. "It's teleporting everyone on board. Since the crew are dead, the sick bay has nothing to do, so it's been looking after humanity."

The Doctor nodded at the siren. "Look at her. A virtual doctor able to sterilize a whole room."

"Able to burn your face off."

"She's just an interface," Adelaide said, "broadcasting into our world. There must be protean circuitry allowing her to change her form and become a human doctor for humans."

The Doctor grinned. "Oh, sister, you are good."

Amy tried to take off Rory's breathing collar but the siren turned red again, forcing Amy to take a step back. "She won't let us take them," Avery said, having gone to stay near Toby.

"She's keeping them alive, but she doesn't know how to heal them."

Amy frowned at Rory. "I'm his wife, for God's sake. Why can't I touch him?"

The Doctor nodded towards the siren. "Tell her, Amy. Show her your ring. She may be virtual but she's intelligent. You can't do anything without her consent." He gestured between Amy and Rory's hand, showing the rings. "Come on, sophisticated girl like you. That must be somewhere in your core program."

Amy glared at the siren. "Look, he's very ill, okay? I just want to look after him. Why won't you let me near my husband?" the siren seemed to realize something and held out her hand to Amy, making a golden ring appear around it. Amy looked towards the Time Lords for explanation.

"Consent form," Adelaide said. "Put your hand in the light to sign it."

"Rory's sick. You have to take full responsibility."

Carefully, Amy reached out and put her hand through the light, making the siren disappear. Amy glanced back at the Time Lords before they all rushed to Rory's side. She hit a button on the side and Rory jerked up sitting, gasping.

"He can't breathe!" the Doctor shouted. "Turn it back on!"

Amy hit the button again and Rory fell back again, asleep. "What do we do? I can't just leave him here."

"He'll die if you take him out," Avery said, looking down at his son.

Amy ran a hand across Rory's forehead. "Rory?" she whispered. "Rory, wake up."

Slowly, Rory blinked awake. "Where am I?"

"You're in a hospital," the Doctor said, cutting in before Adelaide could. "If you leave, you might die." Adelaide hit his arm.

Amy glared at the Doctor before looking back at Rory. "But if you don't, you'll have to stay forever."

"You're staying that if I don't get up now…"

"You can never leave."

"The siren will keep you safe."

Rory nodded. "And if I come with you?"

"Drowning, on the point of death." Adelaide hit the Doctor again for that.

Rory's eyes widened. "I'm a nurse."

"What?"

"I can teach you how to save me."

Amy leaned back, shaking her head. "Whoa, hold on…"

"I was drowning. You just have to resuscitate me."

"Just?"

"You've seen them do it loads of times in films. CPR. The kiss of life."

Amy shook her head again, tears in her eyes. "Rory, this isn't a film, okay? What if I do it wrong?"

"You won't."

"Okay, what if you don't come back to life? What if…"

"I trust you."

Amy looked up at the Time Lords. "What about them? I mean, why do I have to be the one? Why do I have to save you?" Thankfully, they didn't mention that the siren would probably attack them if they dared lay a hand on Rory while he was still injured.

"Because I know you'll never give up," Rory said, making Amy nod. As the Time Lords stepped away, he began to describe exactly what Amy would do.

"We have to send this ship back into space," the Doctor turned Avery, who was still near his son. "Imagine if the siren got ashore. She would have to process every injured human."

"What about Toby?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry. Typhoid fever. Once he returns it's only a matter of time."

"What if I stay with him?" Avery offered. "Here? The siren will look after him. I can't go back to England. And what home does he have now, if not with me?"

The Time Lords couldn't help but smile. "You believe you can sail this ship?"

Avery grinned. "Just point me to the atom accelerator."

The Doctor laughed, patting Avery on the shoulder before going back to Amy and Rory just as Rory finished explaining. "I know you can do this," Rory told her. "Of course, if you muck it up I am going to be really cross. And dead."

Amy chuckled slightly, though she still seemed terrified. "I'll see you in a minute." She looked up at the Time Lords and, after nodding, began to rip off the restraints.

Rory gasped and the Time Lords carried him to the TARDIS, dropping him on the floor and stepping back so that Amy could begin the CPR. She gave him five chest compressions and a breath while the Time Lords stood to the side. When she looked back at Rory, there was no change.

The Doctor started to chew on his thumbnail, and even Adelaide ran a hand through her hair in worry. "Come on," he breathed, "come on, Rory. Not here, not this way, not today."

Amy did it again, but still nothing. "He trusted me. He trusted me to save him!"

The Doctor, standing closer to her, reached out and put a hand on Amy's shoulder. "You still can. You can still do this. He believes in you. Come on, Amy!" Amy nodded, beginning again. "Come on!"

"Please, please, please wake up," Amy begged, doing it again, as the Time Lords just watched in horror. "Wake up. Wake up. Come on. Come on." But it didn't work. Rory wasn't moving, and Amy fell against him, sobbing.

Until he started coughing, chocking on water. He rolled to the side as Amy fell back, the trio watching him in shock, though the Time Lords did walk back to the console, leaving the humans to do whatever they needed.

|C-S|

The Time Lords stood by the console of the TARDIS, frowning at the screen before them. Amy and Rory had gone off to dry off since he had fallen into an ocean in the middle of a storm, but they knew the pair would have to pass through the console to get to the rest of the TARDIS.

They were right and could hear the companions walking up and talking. "I thought I was an excellent pirate."

"I thought you were an excellent nurse."

Amy smiled at Rory. "Easy, tiger." She turned to look at the Time Lords, who had swung away their monitor. "Goodnight, Doctor, Adelaide."

"Goodnight Amelia," the Doctor said, Adelaide nodding.

Amy frowned at both of them. "You only call me Amelia when you're worrying about me."

He shrugged. "We always worry about you."

Amy swallowed hard before speaking, making Adelaide frown. "Mutual."

"Go to bed, Amy," Adelaide said. "You too, Rory."

Amy glanced back at Rory and the Time Lords couldn't see what was said, but it made Amy nod and the pair of them leave the room.

Once the Time Lords were certain the humans had left, they pulled the monitor back.

They'd run another scan of Amy, and this one had the same results as the last.

Flickering between positive and negative.

"Oh, Amelia," the Doctor breathed.

 **A/N: No big revelations for the Time Lords here, but the next chapters...oh, those are some big ones ;)**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _slytherpuffrules: I'm glad you liked it! Don't know if I said it before, but I love your username :)_


	7. Time Lords

**Time Lords**

The Doctor spun around the console in the process of telling what he believed was a very interesting story to Rory. Adelaide had tried to convince him against it, but he had been quite determined to tell Rory the tale of the Robot King, especially since the man seemed like he wasn't believing the Time Lord.

Amy and Adelaide had just shaken their heads, though while Amy had wandered off into the TARDIS, Adelaide distracted herself with attempting to work on fixing some aspect of the TARDIS.

She'd never been overly interested in the technical side of things; she knew how to use most things, of course, but actually fixing anything tended to escape her. And that included TARDISes. Particularly TARDISes of this degree; she'd gotten used to piloting it, eventually. But she tended to leave fixing it to the Doctor, especially when he claimed that the TARDIS could only be fixed by him.

Adelaide hadn't quite believed him, but she'd let him continue thinking like that.

However, it did appear he was partially right, or maybe she was far more rubbish at it than she'd thought because nothing she did actually seemed to do anything.

She waited for a particularly exciting bit of the Doctor's story to throw a spanner against the wall in outrage.

She'd always been more interested in the scientific side of things, always focused more on that. But even she had needed to learn something about how technology worked.

The only problem was that now she seemed to have forgotten anything she'd once known.

She blamed the faulty Chameleon Arch.

The fact there was so much of her in Caroline was evidence enough that something had gone wrong, but the fact Adelaide hadn't returned to her normal self was even more of a sign. She was similar, yes, close enough that it almost felt like simply a new regeneration, and maybe it was.

But something felt…different. Off.

Too human.

She was used to logic and removing emotion and somehow knowing how to anticipate how someone would act. She was used to how she'd been the moment she'd been freed from the Chameleon Arch: calm, collected, and admittedly slightly crazed when faced with an adventure.

Not…whatever she was now.

Not to say what she was now was bad, it was nice, it was a change. But it didn't feel like…her. It wasn't the her she'd known for centuries.

And it wasn't just how she acted. It almost felt like there were holes in her memories, things locked in the fob watch that hadn't back come out. Like she wasn't complete, not yet.

But she would never be, not anymore. Even when she regenerated she'd be stuck like this.

She supposed she could also blame the Doctor for turning her into a manners-obsessed-theory-spouter. If she had been left on her own after opening the watch, it's far more likely she would have returned to normal.

All Adelaide could do now was hope that regeneration would fix her problems, but she had the strong suspicion it wouldn't. And her suspicions tended to be right.

Not that she wanted to regenerate. She wasn't looking forward to that. She kept telling herself she wasn't looking forward to that.

That, certainly, was the influence of the Doctor.

The Adelaide she'd been had known that regeneration - at least not the ones she was on - did not mean the end. She'd just been injured and was getting healed, that was all. A natural part of her biology. But the Doctor was terrified of death.

Now Adelaide was too.

She didn't like it.

"Something wrong?" Amy said, making Adelaide look up. She'd just been staring at what she'd been trying to fix without actually doing anything.

Adelaide smiled. "I'm fine." She looked more up at the console above them, where the Doctor's voice was still drifting down to them. "Shall we go rescue Rory from him?"

Amy laughed, and the pair walked back up to the upper section of the TARDIS just as the Doctor finished. "And then we discovered it wasn't the Robot King after all, it was the real one. Fortunately, I was able to re-attach the head, but that didn't stop Adelaide from being furious at me."

Her smile fell, but she forced it to return. Yes, she'd always been slightly obsessed with manners, as she didn't like having to rely on the Time Lords protection when she ran into danger, especially when they said they wouldn't do anything to help her. If you were polite, there was at least some chance whomever you were facing would treat you a bit nicer.

But how she was now just felt…strange. It made her feel more like a mother protecting the Doctor over a fellow adventurer. As though she couldn't fully enjoy the adventure because she was so worried about keeping everyone else safe and out of trouble.

Maybe it was just this regeneration, she didn't really know. She had spent some time in this body before the Chameleon Arch, but she hadn't gone on adventures; the Time Lords had taken care of that. She didn't know if how she was acting now was how she would have anyways, or because of the Arch.

Rory looked over at Amy, shaking his head. "Do you believe any of this stuff?"

Amy sighed. "I was there."

"Oh!" the Doctor spun again as an alarm started. "It's the warning lights." Adelaide came beside him to look. "I'm getting rid of those. They never stop." He kicked it.

"Kicking things doesn't make them stop."

"Doesn't stop me from doing it." To prove a point, the Doctor kicked the console again.

They both paused when there was a knocking sound from the door, looking over at it with a frown.

"What was that?" Amy asked, her and Rory having stepped to the side to talk about something.

"The door," the Doctor said quietly, walking closer. "It knocked."

"Right." Rory paused, frowning. "We are in deep space…"

The Doctor nodded. "Very, very deep." He knocked on the door and whatever was outside knocked again. "And somebody's knocking." The Doctor opened the door to see a cube of light floating right outside the door. "Oh, come here. Come here, you scrumptious little beauty." He held out a hand but the box just flew past him, circling the people in the TARDIS before coming back to hit the Doctor in the chest.

"A box?"

"What is it?"

The Doctor looked at Adelaide with wide eyes, both of them recognizing what this box was, what it meant. "We've got mail!" He leapt up from the ground and towards the console, joining Adelaide in piloting the TARDIS while holding onto the box. "Time Lord emergency messaging system. In an emergency, we'd wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them through time and space. Anyway, there's a living Time Lord still out there, and it's one of the good ones!" he showed Adelaide a symbol on the box and when her eyes widened he knew she recognized who the message was from.

"You said there weren't any other Time Lords left."

"There are no Time Lords left anywhere in the universe," the Doctor corrected. "But the universe isn't where we're going. See that snake?" he held out the box to the companions, not noticing how quiet Adelaide had gone. "The mark of the Corsair. Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself unless he had the tattoo. Or herself, a couple of times." He laughed, running around the console. "Ooo, she was a bad girl." He hit a lever that made the TARDIS spark.

Rory grabbed on to keep from falling. "Oh, what is happening?"

"We're leaving the universe!"

"How can you leave the universe?"

"With enormous difficulty. Right now we're burning up TARDIS rooms to give us some welly. Goodbye, swimming pool. Goodbye, scullery. Sayonara, squash court seven." The humans shouted as the TARDIS jolted even more, nearly throwing all of them around the console, until it stopped.

Adelaide was just frowning, thinking, and the Doctor didn't really notice.

"Okay, okay," Amy said, pushing some hair from her face. "Where are we?"

"Outside the universe," the Doctor grinned widely. "Where we've never, ever been."

The lights in the TARDIS started to fade, which didn't make Adelaide feel any better. "Is that meant to be happening?" Rory asked.

Adelaide shook her head, answering for the Doctor. "The power is draining."

"But it can't…that's…that's impossible." Apparently, it wasn't, because the room went completely dark. Adelaide gripped the console of the TARDIS and had to take a deep breath to keep calm.

"What is that?"

"It's as if the matrix, the soul of the TARDIS, has just vanished." The Doctor looked around carefully. "Where would it go?"

"Well, let's go find out then!" Amy grabbed Rory's hand and pulled him from the TARDIS.

Adelaide touched the Doctor's arm before he could follow. "We'll need to be careful, Doctor. Something doesn't feel right about this."

"But the Corsair…"

She raised her eyebrows. "I knew the Corsair too, Doctor, and that doesn't make me feel any better. Just…be careful."

"I'm always careful." He switched to holding her hand. "Don't tell me you don't want to go on an adventure?"

"I never said that." She let him pull her out of the TARDIS. They seemed to have landed in the middle of a junkyard.

"So what kind of trouble's your friend in?" Amy asked once they'd stepped outside.

"He was in a bind, a bit of a pickle," the Doctor whispered. "Sort of distressed."

"Ah, you can't just say you don't know."

"But what is this place?" Rory looked around. "The scrap yard at the end of the universe?"

"Not end of, outside of," Adelaide corrected.

"How can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything."

"Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside," the Doctor began, miming it with his hands.

"Okay…"

Adelaide shook her head. "It's nothing like that."

The Doctor turned and touched the side of the TARDIS. "Completely drained. Look at her."

"Wait. So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?"

"No," Adelaide said, at the same time the Doctor said, "yeah." Adelaide glanced at him before continuing, "but if it helps, yes."

The Doctor stepped back from the TARDIS, looking around again. "This place is full of rift energy. She'll probably refuel just by being here. Now, this place. What do we think, eh?"

"Gravity's close to Earth normal, the air is breathable, but it smells like…"

"Armpits," Amy finished for Adelaide.

She nodded. "Armpits."

Rory touched a nearby light. "What about all this stuff? Where did this come from?"

"Well, there's a rift. Now and then stuff gets sucked through it. Not a bubble, a plughole. The universe has a plug hole and we've just fallen down it."

"Thief!" someone shouted in the distance, making all of them look around in surprise. "Thief!" a woman in a light blue dress ran towards them, pointing at the Doctor while two others chased after her. "You're my thief!"

"She's dangerous," the woman running after her called to them. "Guard yourselves!"

The first woman reached the Doctor, grabbing his arms as she looked at him in wonder. "Look at you! Goodbye! No, not goodbye, what's the other one?" And then she hugged him quite tightly, nearly knocking him over. She pulled back from him suddenly, spinning on Adelaide, eyes even wider than before. "Mermaid! It's the mermaid!" She hugged Adelaide, nearly actually lifting her off the ground.

"Watch out, careful, keep back from her!" the man said, pulling the woman off Adelaide once he got close enough. Both Time Lords were just looking at her in shock, taking a step back. "Welcome, strangers, lovely. Sorry about the mad person."

Adelaide shook her head. "Why am I a mermaid?"

"Why am I a thief?" the Doctor frowned. "What have I stolen?"

"Me," the woman said, looking around. "You're going to steal me." She paused, thinking. "No, you have stolen me. You are stealing me…oh, tenses are difficult, aren't they?"

"Oh, we are sorry, my doves," the older woman said. "She's off her head. They call me Auntie." She stepped up to the Doctor and shook his hand.

"And I'm Uncle." The man shook Adelaide's hand. "I'm everybody's uncle. Just keep back from this one," he gestured at the woman, who was trying to study the Time Lords, despite them keeping back from her. "She bites!"

"Do I? Excellent." The woman leapt forward and bit the Doctor's ear, making him shout. Adelaide pulled the Doctor back while Uncle and Auntie pulled back the woman. "Biting's excellent! It's like kissing, only there's a winner."

"So sorry, she's doolally."

The woman frowned. "No, I'm not doolally. I'm…I'm…it's on the tip of my tongue. Oh! I've just had an idea, come here!" she ran for the Time Lords, but they ducked out of the way as Auntie and Uncle grabbed her.

"No, Idris, no."

Idris, which was apparently the woman's name, calmed enough to frown at the Time Lords. "Oh, but now you're angry. No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you angry." She looked towards Adelaide. "Even you, sweet mermaid."

"Sorry?" the Doctor shook his head. "The little what? Boxes?"

Idris turned her gaze to the human companions, particularly Rory. "Oh, ho, no. Your chin is hilarious." She paused again. "It means the smell of dust after rain."

"What does?"

"Petrichor."

"But I didn't ask."

"Not yet." She nodded. "But you will."

"No, no, Idris," Auntie grabbed Idris again. "I think you should have a rest."

"Rest, yes, yes," she nodded. "Good idea. I'll just see if there's an off switch…" and then she collapsed, Rory just managing to catch her before she hit the ground.

Uncle sighed. "Is that it? She dead now. So sad."

"No, she's still breathing," Rory said, having checked on her.

"Nephew, take Idris somewhere she cannot bite people," Uncle said, and they all turned to see an Ood standing there with green eyes.

"Oh, hello!" the Doctor said, grinning.

"Doctor, Adelaide, what is that?" Amy said, backing away from the Ood.

"It's fine," Adelaide said. "It's just an Ood. We like Oods."

The Doctor nodded. "Oods are good. Love an Ood." He walked over to it. "Hello, Ood. Can you talk?" the Ood gestured at the translator orb in its hand. "Oh, I see. It's damaged. May I?" the Ood nodded and held it out to the Doctor, letting him pull off the top. "It might just be on the wrong frequency."

"Nephew was broken when he came here," Auntie said. "Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."

The Doctor put back on the top and Adelaide came to stand beside him as the orb glowed green, various voices being projected from it. One was louder than all the others. "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive. I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet." The voice blended in with the rest and the Doctor stepped away, looking around, until they finally stopped.

"What was that?" Rory asked the Time Lords. "Was that him?" he pointed at the Ood.

"No, no. It's picking up something else." The Time Lords reached for each other without looking, grabbing each other's hands as they looked around the planet they'd landed on. "But that's…that's not possible. That's…that's…"

Adelaide looked sharply towards Uncle and Auntie. "Who else is here?"

Auntie shrugged, gesturing between herself and Uncle. "Just what you see. Just the four of us, and the House. Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"

"The House? What's the House?" Adelaide asked.

"House is all around you, my sweets." Auntie smiled as Uncle hopped in place. "You are standing on him. This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?"

"Meet him?"

The Doctor nodded. "I'd love to."

Uncle grinned and gestured at them. "This way. Come, please, come."

Amy glanced at the Time Lords, seeing their expressions fall. "What's wrong? What were those voices?"

"Time Lords," the Doctor said carefully. "It's not just the Corsair."

"Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of Time Lords."

|C-S|

Uncle brought them to a grate with a green glow in the corner of a room. "Come, come, come. You can see the House and he can look at you."

The Doctor and Adelaide knelt beside the grate and Uncle. "The asteroid is sentient," Adelaide said, her eyes widening.

Auntie nodded, coming close to them. "We walk on his back, breathe his air, eat his food."

"Smell its armpits," Amy mumbled.

"And do my will," Auntie and Uncle said in unison, straightening suddenly. "You are most welcome, travelers."

"That voice…" Amy called as the Time Lords backed away from Auntie and Uncle. "That's the asteroid talking?"

Adelaide nodded. "Yes."

"So you're like a sea urchin," the Doctor said. "Hard outer surface, that's the planet we're walking on. Big, squashy, oogly thing inside, that's you."

"That is correct, Time Lord."

They looked at each other. "So you've met Time Lords before?"

"Many travelers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."

"So there are Time Lords here, then?"

"Not anymore, but there have been many TARDISes on my back in days gone by."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, there won't be any more after us. Last Time Lords. Last TARDIS." Adelaide swat the Doctor's arm. After what House had just said and what they'd heard from Nephew, it was quite a bad plan to tell him there were no more TARDISes or Time Lords, not until they knew what had happened to those who had been here.

"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor, Adelaide. Rest, feed, if you will." House seemed to release Auntie and Uncle, letting them shake their heads.

Rory looked at the pair with raised eyebrows. "We're not actually going to stay here, are we?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, it seems like a friendly planet. Literally."

Adelaide glanced at Auntie and Uncle. "May we look around?"

Auntie smiled at them. "You can look all you want. Go, look." She walked over to Amy, running a hand through her hair, letting the Time Lords see that she had actual mismatched hands. "House loves you."

The Doctor clapped. "Come on then, gang."

"Let's go explore." Adelaide led the way out of the room, though the Doctor quickly ran up to stay by her side, especially given where they were at the moment. "In the future, let's not tell a sentient asteroid in a bubble universe that we're the last Time Lords until we know for certain that it doesn't mean us any harm."

|C-S|

Somewhere in the middle of the tunnel-like corridors that wound through the asteroid, the Time Lords paused, listening in the distance. They could just about hear someone shouting for "thief" and "mermaid", meaning Idris was somewhere within hearing distance.

"So, as soon as the TARDIS is refueled we can go, yeah?" Rory asked, sounding nervous.

"No," the Doctor said quickly, cutting him off. "There are Time Lords here. We heard them and they need us."

"You told me about your people," Amy said, "and you told me what you did."

Both the Doctor and Adelaide swallowed hard. The Doctor had doomed their people, but Adelaide had abandoned them. They were both responsible for the fall of Gallifrey. Both carried the weight of all those souls. "Yes, yes," the Doctor said, nodding, "but if they're like the Corsair, they're good ones and we can save them." He gestured between himself and Adelaide.

Amy raised her eyebrows. "And then you tell them you destroyed the others?"

"I can explain. Tell them why I had to," the Doctor looked towards Adelaide and knew that he couldn't count on the fact she hadn't blamed him. She had known the danger the other Time Lords had posed to the universe, but if they actually found other Time Lords, there was a high chance they wouldn't have seen it the same.

"You want to be forgiven."

"Don't we all?"

Amy nodded. "What do you need from me?"

"Our sonics," the Doctor said. "We left them in the TARDIS. Mine's in my jacket," he looked towards Adelaide.

"And mine is below the console."

Rory frowned. "You're wearing your jacket."

"My other jacket."

"You have two of those?"

Amy sighed. "Okay, I'll get them. But Doctor, Adelaide, listen to me. Don't get emotional because that's when you make mistakes." She pointed at Adelaide. "Even you, Adelaide, don't try to deny it." She pulled her phone from her pocket. "Do you still have yours?" Adelaide did the same; she'd kept Caroline's phone this entire time. "I'll call you from the TARDIS. Rory, look after them."

Amy walked off, and Rory looked after her. "Rory, look after her," the Doctor said, making Rory smile and hurry after his wife.

The Time Lords continued on for a short period of time in silence before Amy called. "Hey, we're here. Screwdriver's in your jacket, yeah Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded even if the humans couldn't see, pulling out his sonic. "Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look."

"And mine's under the console," Adelaide said. Sending the humans into an empty shell of a TARDIS wasn't the best plan, but there was a better chance they'd be safe there than on the planet if any of the TARDIS's safety measures were still in place.

And there was the concern for others that her other regenerations had rarely had. It had always been there, honestly, but not like this.

The Doctor used his sonic to lock the TARDIS doors before they continued on, finally stopping finding a small room. "Come on, where are you? Now, where are you all? Where are you?" they could sense the other Time Lords, almost hear them close by.

Adelaide pulled back a curtain in the back of the room. "No," she mumbled, frowning at the fact there was just a small cupboard before her. The Doctor came to her side as she opened it and their hearts stopped.

Inside the cupboard were about ten Time Lord messenger boxes, all calling for someone to help.

There were no Time Lords left on this asteroid.

And while Adelaide was trying to convince herself that she had known all along, that she shouldn't be upset because she'd always known it would be too good to be true, she couldn't help but feel terribly hurt.

She didn't like that. She didn't like her emotions overpowering her logic, making her change her mind.

The Time Lords didn't need to turn around to know that Auntie and Uncle had walked up. "Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection. Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought we had some friends here, but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead." He turned around, leaving Adelaide staring at the boxes. "How many Time Lords have you lured here the way you lured us, and what happened to them all?"

"House," Auntie said simply, "House is kind and he is wise."

"House repairs you when you break," the Doctor snapped, striding forwards. "Yes, I know. But how does he mend you? You've got the eyes of a twenty-year-old."

Uncle grinned. "Thank you."

"No, oh, no, I meant it literally. Your eyes are thirty years younger than the rest of you." He pulled off Uncle's hat as Adelaide finally turned, her face hard. "Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than your left, and how's your dancing? Because you've got two left feet. Patchwork people! You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you." He paused, his face still harsh. "I had an umbrella like you once."

Slowly, Adelaide moved forwards, taking Auntie's thicker arm and holding it up so that both Time Lords could see the snake tattoo.

"Oh, now, it's been a great arm for me, this," Auntie said, nodding at it.

"Corsair," Adelaide whispered, letting go of the arm like it poisoned her.

"He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?"

Uncle nodded. "Big fellow."

"I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys."

"Kidneys."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "You gave us hope, and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me. Basically…run."

Auntie and Uncle turned, though Uncle looked back at them before he left. "Poor old Time Lords. Too late. House is too clever."

The Time Lords didn't say anything, just stood watching, the Doctor clenching his fists, until the phone rang again. "No sonics," Amy said. "Also, the doors seem to have locked behind us. Rory thinks there's a perfectly innocent explanation, but I think you lied to us."

Adelaide spoke before the Doctor. "Terribly sorry, but we wanted you to be safer."

"What," Amy scoffed, "we're not good enough for your smart new friends?"

The Doctor frowned. "The boxes will make you angry," he mumbled, looking back down the corridor they'd just come through. "How could she know?"

"Doctor, what are you talking about?"

"Stay in the TARDIS," Adelaide said, following the Doctor as he began to walk. "Goodbye."

"We don't have-" Amy said, but Adelaide hung up before she could finish.

 **A/N: Uh oh, Adelaide's started to notice the things that are different about her post-fob watch. In her timeline, it's really only been about a year or two since being released, so I see it as having taken some time for everything to settle and for her to realize that something isn't quite right. After all, two years isn't that long in the life of a Time Lord.**

 **And why oh why does Idris call her mermaid? What else does Idris know about our two Time Lords? ;)**


	8. TARDISes

**TARDISes**

The moment they found Idris, sitting in a large cage, the Doctor strode towards her while Adelaide stayed a bit to the back. "How did you know about the boxes? You said they'd make us angry. How did you know?"

Idris just stayed sitting. "Ah, it's my thief and mermaid."

Adelaide stepped up closer to the Doctor. "Who are you?"

Idris opened her eyes and grinned. "It's about time. I expected better of you, mermaid."

"Who are you?" she repeated.

"Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?" She looked between the Time Lords.

"They said you were dangerous."

"Not the cage, stupid," Idris moved forward to kneel close to the bar, pressing her face against it. "In here. They put me in here. I'm the…oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go…" she breathed, making the sound of the TARDIS.

Both Time Lords' eyes widened, but it was the Doctor who spoke. "The TARDIS?"

"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me." She stood to be at their level. "I'm the TARDIS."

"No, you're not," the Doctor glared. "You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box."

Idris nodded. "Yes, that's me. A Type 40 TARDIS. I was already a museum piece when both of you were young," she looked between the Time Lords before focusing on the Doctor, "and the first time you touched my console you said…"

"I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known."

"And then you stole me." Idris smirked. "And I stole you."

"I borrowed you."

Adelaide opened her mouth, but Idris cut her off. "Borrowing implies the intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"

"You're the TARDIS?"

Idris nodded. "Yes."

"My TARDIS?" Adelaide didn't bother correcting him because technically it was still his TARDIS, no matter how long she traveled with him...and, so far, it hadn't really been that long in the scope of a Time Lord's life.

"My Doctor." She looked towards Adelaide. "My mermaid." She grinned, taking a step back. "Oh, we have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock." Adelaide soniced the door, letting Idris step up and examine them. "Are all people like this?"

"Like what?"

"So much bigger on the inside." She paused, stepping between them. "I'm…oh, what is that word? It's so…big, so complicated. It's so sad."

The Doctor shook his head. "But why? Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?"

Idris turned to face them again. "Oh, it doesn't want me."

Adelaide frowned. "How do you know?"

"House eats TARDISes."

Both of them froze. "House what?" the Doctor asked. "What do you mean?"

Idris shrugged. "I don't know. It's something I heard you say."

"When?"

"In the future."

"House eats TARDISes?"

Idris nodded. "There you go. What are fish fingers?"

Adelaide shook her head. "When do I say that?"

"You don't."

"House eats rift energy and TARDISes are full of it," Adelaide reasoned. "Cooked rift energy, like processed food."

"Mmm, fish fingers."

"Do fish have fingers?"

Adelaide shook her head again, looking at Idris without really seeing her. "It's impossible to eat a TARDIS, it would destroy you. Unless…"

"Unless you deleted the TARDIS matrix first," Idris finished for her.

"So it deleted you."

"But House can't just delete a TARDIS consciousness. That would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy." Idris stopped, eyes wide as she looked between both of them. "You were about to say all that. I don't suppose either of you has to now."

The Doctor froze. "I sent Amy and Rory in there. They'll be eaten!" He turned and started to run out of the room, Adelaide pulling out her phone as she followed.

"Amy? Rory? You need to get out of the TARDIS, now."

"Adelaide, something's wrong."

"It's House. It wants the TARDIS. You just need to leave."

Amy sighed. "We can't. You and the Doctor locked the door, remember?"

The Doctor glanced back at Adelaide, being close enough to overhear the phone call. "I already opened it!"

She scoffed. "You stupid well haven't!"

The Time Lords ran out into the junkyard, the Doctor pointing his sonic at the TARDIS again. "Open!"

They heard Amy hammering on the inside of the TARDIS. "Doctor! Adelaide!"

"Open this door!" the Doctor banged on it. And then the TARDIS started to dematerialize. "Amy! Rory!"

Adelaide tried the phone again. "Amy? Amy, can you hear me?" Nothing.

The Doctor turned to look at Adelaide. "Okay, right. I don't…I really don't know what to do."

She shook her head. "It's a new feeling."

|C-S|

They hurried back to where Idris was waiting, Auntie and Uncle off to the side. "It's gone," the Doctor called.

"Eaten?"

"No, it left. Not eaten, hi-jacked." The Doctor started to pace. "But why?"

"It's time for us both to go, and keep together," Auntie said as she and Uncle wrapped blankets around themselves.

Adelaide turned on them, leaving the Doctor to pace. "Where are you going?"

"Well, we're dying, my love," they walked closer to her. "It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."

"I'm against it."

"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets? Because you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?"

Uncle sat. "So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISes."

Adelaide shook her head. "It won't."

"Oh, it'll think of something." Auntie nodded before collapsing to the side. Adelaide rushed over, scanning the woman quickly.

"Actually," Uncle said, standing, "I feel fine." But then he fell as well.

Adelaide looked up at the Doctor. "They're dead."

Idris grabbed the Doctor's arm. "We need to go to where I landed, quickly."

"Why?"

"Because we are there in three minutes." Idris stood, still holding his arm. "We need to go now." She ran towards the door but didn't get far before she hunched over, grabbing her side. "Ow! Roughly how long do these bodies last?"

The Doctor scanned her. "You're dying."

"She's not meant to be in a flesh body, of course she's dying," Adelaide called, walking up.

Idris nodded. "I could blow the casing in no time." She frowned at the Doctor. "No, stop it. Don't get emotional." She paused. "Hmm, that's what the orangey girl says. You're the Doctor. Focus. Be Adelaide."

"On what? How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box!" he snatched his sonic back from Idris, who'd taken it to read. "I'm stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe on a stupid old junkyard!"

Adelaide's eyes widened and she grinned. "Oh…"

"Oh what?"

She looked to the Doctor, watching the same idea occur to him. "We're not."

"Not what?"

"It's not just a junkyard."

"What is it then?"

The Doctor grabbed Adelaide's hand. "It's a TARDIS junkyard! Come on!" he pulled her towards the door, only for her to make him stop and look at Idris.

"Do you have a name?"

Idris sighed. "Taken you long enough, mermaid. I thought you would have asked sooner."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "What should we call you?"

"I think you both call me…" Idris smirked "Sexy."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Only when we're alone."

Idris looked around the room. "We are alone."

Adelaide laughed. "Well, then come on, Sexy."

|C-S|

The trio of them stood on a small hill that overlooked the largest section of the junkyard, looking down. "A valley of half-eaten TARDISes," the Doctor whispered. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead," Idris said. "That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."

The Doctor winced. "Ah, sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that."

"No. You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models. And you don't care that it's impossible."

He shrugged. "It's not impossible as long as we're alive. Rory and Amy need us. So, yeah, we're going to build a TARDIS."

|C-S|

Idris stood next to a pile of junk, studying a small circuit, while the Doctor was in the process of pulling a large wall along by chains, and Adelaide was trying to remember what little she knew about how TARDISes actually worked.

"Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter," Idris called to the Doctor.

"Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing!"

"Manners!" Adelaide called.

Idris scoffed. "You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions."

Adelaide sighed, guessing that she wouldn't be able to interrupt the pair of them. "No wonder you get along so well."

"I always read the instructions!"

"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?"

"That's not instructions!"

"There's an instruction at the bottom," Adelaide called over. "What does it say?"

"Pull to open."

She nodded. "And what do you do?"

"I push!"

Idris sighed. "Every single time. Seven hundred years. Police Box doors open out the way."

The Doctor threw down the chains and stalked over to Idris. "I think I have earned the right to open my front doors anyway I want!"

Idris scoffed. "Your front doors? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"

"You are not my mother!" He walked away again.

"And you are not my child."

The Doctor spun. "You know, since we're talking, with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, you…" he pointed at Idris "have never been very reliable."

"And you have?"

"You don't always take me where I wanted to go."

"No, but I always took you where you needed to go." She nodded towards Adelaide. "I helped you find her."

Adelaide stood. "Even when I was a human?" Idris nodded.

The Doctor, however, was thinking of something else. "Look at us, talking. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you're stuck inside the box?"

Idris turned back towards the Doctor. "You know I'm not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time, and you both just talk and run around and…bring home strays." She nearly collapsed again, gripping her side, though Adelaide caught her before she fell.

"You okay?"

"One of the kidneys has already failed," Idris took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console."

The Doctor whistled. "Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe."

"This body has about eighteen minutes left to live. The Universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative."

Adelaide helped Idris stand as the Doctor walked back to the wall he'd been pulling. "Then we need to get a move on, eh, old girl?"

Before Adelaide stepped away, she touched Idris's shoulder. "Are you the reason we kept finding each other?"

Idris only smiled. "The universe sang for you."

|C-S|

Somehow, they'd actually managed to construct something that looked vaguely like a TARDIS console. Idris was examining another pile while Adelaide was checking that everything was properly secured and the Doctor dragged over what would become the time rotor.

"You'll need to install the time rotor," Idris said, just as the Doctor did so.

"How is this going to make it through the rift?" the Doctor shook his head, frowning at the console. "How?"

"We're almost done." Adelaide pointed at something on the console. "Thrust diffuser?"

He nodded. "Retroscope? Blue…thingy."

Idris looked up at them, holding a coat hanger. "Do you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" she asked the Doctor.

He glanced at her. "I chose you. You were unlocked."

"Of course I was. I wanted to see the Universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away." The Time Lords left the TARDIS to go stand by her, looking at the makeshift console. "And you were the only one mad enough."

The Doctor grinned. "Right. Perfect, look at that. What could possibly go wrong?" A piece fell off the console. "That's fine. That always happens." Adelaide just raised her eyebrows at him. "No, hang on, wait." He turned and grabbed velvet ropes from another pile of junk, following Idris and Adelaide back towards the console. They used the rope to strap themselves in. "Right, okay, let's go. Follow that TARDIS!"

The TARDIS they'd built hummed for a few seconds before powering down again, sparking. "Oh no, come on. There's rift energy everywhere! You can do it…okay, diverting all power to thrust. Let's be having you." He tried again, but the piece of console he was working on sparked. "No, no, no, no!"

Idris glanced over. "What's wrong?"

Adelaide shook her head. "It can't hold the charge. It can't even start."

The Doctor hit his hand against the console. "There's no power!" He looked over at Idris, who was fascinated with her reflection in the mirror. "We've got nothing!"

"Oh, my beautiful idiot." Idris smiled. "You have what you've always had. You've got me." She kissed her middle finger, making her eyes glow golden, before she touched the rotor, making it finally power up. A golden haze appeared around them as they dematerialized.

"Whoo hoo!" the Doctor cheered, clinging to the console as they traveled.

"We've locked on to them!" Idris called to them over the quite loud noise. "They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."

"Get a message to Amy," Adelaide said. "The telepathic circuits are online."

"Which one's Amy? The pretty one?" Idris focused on the mirror in front of her. "Hello, Pretty."

The Doctor leaned over. "Don't worry, telepathic messaging." He frowned, who Idris was communicating with finally focusing for him. "No, that's Rory."

"You have to go to the old control room," Idris said, ignoring the Time Lord. "I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields."

The Doctor leaned over again, pulling himself out of Adelaide's reach. "The pretty one?"

"You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading matrix. I'll send you the pass key when you get there. Good luck!"

"How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway? The House is in the control room."

Idris shrugged. "I directed him to one of the old control rooms."

The Doctor frowned. "There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodeled."

"I archive them, for neatness. I've got about thirty now."

"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?"

Adelaide scoffed. "We're discussing a TARDIS, Doctor. She's not limited with our timeline."

"But you can't archive something that hasn't happened yet."

Idris smirked. "You can't."

The Time Lords rushed around the console, Idris working on keeping out of their way. "Keep going!" the Doctor cheered. "You're doing it, you sexy thing!"

"See, you do call me that! Is it my name?"

The Doctor grinned. "You bet it's your name!"

Idris cheered and focused again, sending Rory a message. "They did it! Shields down! We're coming through! Get out of the way or you'll be atomized." Rory said something. "I don't know."

Adelaide grabbed a bit of the console. "It's not going to hold!"

They essentially crashed into the TARDIS, appearing in a golden swirl off to the side of an old control room.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, pulling herself up from where she and Rory had hidden. "Adelaide!"

Idris winced again, and Adelaide kept her from falling. "Not good, not good at all. How do you walk around in these things?"

Adelaide helped Idris sit. "We're almost there, you can do this."

The Doctor stepped forward, rubbing his hands together. "Amy, this is, well…she's my TARDIS. Except she's a woman, and she's my TARDIS."

Amy pointed at Idris. "She's the TARDIS?"

He nodded. "And she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's the TARDIS."

"Did you wish really hard?"

He grimaced. "Shut up. Not like that."

"Hello," Idris said. "I'm…Sexy."

The Doctor pointed at the humans. "Still shut up." Then he spun on Adelaide, who was smirking. "And you?" He looked slightly betrayed.

She shrugged. "Even I can admit it's funny."

"You called her Sexy too!"

"The environment has been breached," House said, making the walls and lights glow green. Adelaide stood, turning in a circle. "Nephew, kill them all."

Rory looked around. "Where's Nephew?"

"He was standing right where you materialized," Amy pointed towards where that was.

The Doctor nodded. "Ah. Well, he must have been redistributed."

"Meaning what?"

"You're breathing him," Adelaide said.

Amy grimaced, covering her mouth. "Oh, come on."

The Doctor just sighed. "Another Ood I failed to save."

"Doctor, Adelaide, I did not expect you," House said.

"Well, that's the pair of us all over, isn't it?" the Doctor clapped. "Lovely, old, unexpected us, not that Adelaide is old. Me, on the other hand…" Even though technically, they were only about two hundred years apart in age, but Adelaide didn't feel like mentioning that in the moment.

"The big question is," House interrupted, "now you're here, how to dispose of you? I could play with gravity…" they all fell to the ground, pushed by an unseen force, before they were released. "Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."

And then the air left the room, leaving them all to gasp for breath.

"You really don't want to do that," the Doctor managed to say and thankfully it was enough for House to let the air return.

"Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"

Adelaide coughed. "Because then we won't be able to help you."

The Doctor nodded. "Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. Right now we're your only hope for getting out of your little bubble through the rift, and into our universe. And our's the one with the food in."

"You just have to promise not to kill us. Just promise."

"You can't be serious!" Amy shouted.

Adelaide nodded. "We're very serious. I'm certain it's an entity of its word."

"Doctor, she's burning up!" Rory called, having hurried to Idris's side. "She's asking for water."

The Doctor hurried over, kneeling by Idris's side and taking her hand. "Hey. Hang in there, old girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon."

Idris smiled. "I always liked it when you call me old girl."

"You want me to give my word?" House asked them. "Easy. I promise."

"I trust you. Just delete about thirty percent of the TARDIS rooms." Adelaide didn't care if her knowledge of the TARDIS wasn't completely accurate because she knew one thing for certain. "Activate subroutine Sigma nine."

"Why would you tell me this?"

Adelaide shrugged. "We want to return to our universe as badly as you do. And I'm polite."

"Yes, I can delete rooms. And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Adelaide. Very helpful. Goodbye, Time Lords. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris."

There was a bright light…but they only reappeared in the main control room, exactly as they had been when they left the old one.

"Yes, I mean, you could do that, but it just won't work," Adelaide said, smirking, as the Doctor stood. "There's a hardwired fail safe that living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room."

"But thanks for the lift."

"We are in your universe now, Time Lords. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."

"Fear us," the Doctor said, looking up. "We've killed all of them." He came to Adelaide's side, taking her hand for a second. "But yeah, you're right. You've completely won. Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow us and our friends Amy and Rory to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent." The three of them started clapping, Rory still speaking quietly with Idris. Adelaide was thankful that the Doctor had taken over negotiating; she likely would have been able to manage...except for how much knowledge of a Type 40 TARDIS she would have needed to claim.

Amy shook her head, not quite getting it. "Congratulations?"

"Yep, you've defeated us. Me, Adelaide, and our lovely friends here, and last but definitely not least, the TARDIS matrix herself. A living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body. And look at her."

"She's stopped breathing," Rory called.

"Enough, that is enough."

The Doctor shook his head. "No. it's never enough. You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS matrix and live. Look at her body, House."

"And you think I should mourn her?"

Adelaide smirked. "I think you should be very careful about what you let back into this control room."

"You took her from her home. But now she's back in the box again, and she's free." Idris opened her mouth and let the golden Vortex energy stream out of her, filling the room.

"No! Doctor, stop this!" House screamed, sounding like he was in pain. "Argh! Stop this now!"

The Doctor cheered. "Oh, look at my girl. Look at her go. Bigger on the inside, you see, House?"

"Make her stop!"

"That's your problem. Size of a planet, but inside you're just so small."

"Make it stop!"

"Finish him off, girl!"

"Ow! Don't do this! Argh!"

Adelaide touched the Doctor's shoulder, turning him to look at the stairs of the TARDIS where a vision of Idris had appeared, formed like a ghost from the gold. "Doctor, Adelaide, are you there?" she called. "It's so very dark in here."

The Time Lords stepped closer. "We're here."

Idris looked down. "I've bene looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."

"What word?"

"Alive. I'm alive."

The Doctor frowned. "Alive isn't sad."

"It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here, but this is when we talked, and now even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to you."

"Goodbye?" he asked, reaching for Adelaide's hand.

Idris smiled. "No. I just wanted to say hello. Hello, Doctor. Hello, Adelaide. It's so very, very nice to meet you."

"Please…" the Doctor whispered. "I don't want you to…please."

But all Idris could do was give them one final smile before letting the golden light surround her and the normal wheezing sound return to the control room.

The Doctor turned and braced himself against the console, head lowered, as tears came to his eyes. Adelaide walked with him, wrapping her arm around him, resting her head against his shoulder. They stayed there in silence, mourning the loss of Idris, of all the Time Lords and TARDISes House had destroyed, but together.

The last two Time Lords in any universe, Time Lords Victorious.

The last children of Gallifrey.

And as they stood there, the stars cheered.

|C-S|

Later, as the Doctor attempted to put a firewall around the matrix of the TARDIS, Adelaide was somewhere else inside the TARDIS, he didn't actually know where. She'd just said that she needed to think about something and left.

Rory, who was on the upper level of the console room, looked down when the Doctor made something spark. "How's it going under there?"

"Just putting a firewall around the matrix. Almost done."

Rory and Amy came down the stairs. "Are you going to make her talk again?" Amy asked.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Spacey wacey, isn't it?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, actually, it's because the Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical then…" Rory crossed two wires and made quite a large spark. "Yes, it's spacey wacey!"

Rory winced. "Sorry." The Doctor stood to study the wires he'd touched. "At the end, she was talking. She kept repeating something. I don't know what it meant."

'What did she say?"

"'The only water in the forest is the river'. She said we'd need to know that someday. It doesn't make sense, does it?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Not yet. You okay?"

Rory shook his head. "No. I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse."

"Letting it get to you. You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive, right now, that's all that counts." He sat back in his swing chair. "Nearly finished. Two more minutes, then we're off. The Eye of Orion's restful, if you like restful. I can never really get the hand of restful; it's why Adelaide loves me." He touched the section of console closest to him. "What do you think, dear? Where shall we take the kids this time?"

Amy shook her head. "Look at you pair. It's always you and her, isn't it, long after the rest of us have gone. A boy and his box, off to see the universe."

He smiled. "Don't forget Adelaide; she'd kill you for that." Amy laughed. "But honestly, it's the best thing there is." There was another spark. "The House deleted all the bedrooms. I should probably make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Amy and Rory spoke quickly with each other before turning back to the Time Lord. "Okay, er, Doctor, this time could we lose the bunk beds?"

He frowned. "No, bunk beds are cool. A bed with a ladder. You can't beat that." The humans looked annoyed. "It's your room. Out those stairs, keep walking till you find it. Off you pop.'

The humans began to leave, but then Rory paused. "Doctor, do you and Adelaide have a room?"

Amy pulled him away before the Doctor could answer.

However, he didn't have that long before Adelaide appeared, leaning sideways against a pillar. "Can we talk about something, Doctor?" He nodded. "Were you listening to what Idris was saying about us?"

"I don't think I was listening to the same things you were," he admitted, making her smile.

"She helped you find me, even when I was human," she began. "I asked her if she was the reason we kept finding each other, and she said 'the universe sang for you'." She nodded when his eyes widened. "Do you remember what the Master said, when he was discussing the fact that I somehow managed to find you, even as human?"

"He said we were Aligned."

"I think…I think it's possible."

The Doctor didn't know what he wanted to think at that moment. He could only stare at her, eyes wide.

Aligning…it was almost treated like a joke on Gallifrey. Something you would tease your friends about, something very few people took seriously. Almost everyone was Aligned at least to one person, so it wasn't considered that special.

But, sometimes, it would be something different.

All Aligning meant, technically, was that the two Time Lord's timelines intersected in fixed events. That meant that there were a few instances where they would meet, or some interactions they would have, that would happen no matter what version of the universe they were in or what paths their lives took. Most people were Aligned with at least one person and, generally, it meant nothing.

Most Time Lords didn't think much about being Aligned with some e, because generally there were only one or two of those fixed events in their interlocked time lines. Most Time Lords didn't even notice when those events happened.

But sometimes, there would be more than two. Sometimes, two Time Lords were so interlocked that there were countless fixed events scattered throughout their time lines. And that, in those extremely rare circumstances, was when Time Lords would say the stars, or the universe, were singing and shining brighter when those events passed.

All Adelaide had needed to say was that one phrase for him to know exactly what type of Aligning they were.

 **A/N: I'm happy to explain Aligning more if anyone needs more of an explanation. We will get a bit more throughout the story as the two take in this revelation, but since it is an original concept for this story, I completely understand if anyone needs more of an explanation.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _slytherpuffrules: Glad you enjoyed it :)_

 _lautaro94: One of my favorites too. I do think that Adelaide and the Singer would like each other, but I'm not certain if they'd be friends or not. Definitely friendly, so long as they were introduced in the right circumstances. And when it comes to the twins...it depends on which version of them she meets. But I am interested in exploring how they would all get along and interact so, who knows, maybe a crossover is somewhere in the future._


	9. Accident

**Accident**

If the humans noticed the fact the Time Lords were a bit distant after the events with Idris, they just assumed it had something to do with mourning their people. That perhaps the Time Lords just needed some alone time, though the pair did continue on their adventures. They just…stayed a bit more apart than normal.

Learning that they were Aligned - or possibly Aligned - was enough to shock the Time Lords into separation. They knew that the various times she had found him as a human were fixed events, that they were more Aligned than casual Time Lords. And they also knew that it didn't technically mean anything.

Being Aligned just meant certain events in their lives were fixed. That was all it meant.

But still…on Gallifrey, being Aligned in the way they were meant they had a certain level of commitment. Even if they'd already passed through all the fixed events they were meant to have, the fact they'd had so many meant something.

Not necessarily romantic, it was up to the Time Lords to interpret the meaning, but if they were going to preserve the expectations that they would have had on Gallifrey, then there would have to be some relationship that lasted. Time Lords didn't have so many fixed events for no reason.

And they were still so early in their relationship. Certainly, they'd both been beginning to fall in love for a while before they admitted it to each other, but in the scope of a Time Lord's life that was almost no time at all. Then to learn that, in the eyes of their people, they were destined to be together…it put a halt on everything. It was daunting. It wasn't something they'd wanted to think about, not this early.

They hadn't wanted to think about their future yet. At least, not that far ahead.

Not with the pressure of knowing they were Aligned, that the universe had forced them together, that they couldn't ignore that, no matter how hard they sometimes wanted too.

Not when they were just beginning to truly know each other.

Not when facing the concept that how they personally feel might not really matter at all.

Thus, they'd essentially hidden from each other, finding ways to avoid each other when they were just in the TARDIS. They both needed to think; being Aligned didn't mean they had to continue a romantic relationship if they didn't want to, not technically, but it meant their timelines were interlocked, that they'd never be able to truly leave the other.

No matter how far apart they would go, they would never escape each other.

On the plus side, the news did explain why the Doctor almost instantly attached himself to Caroline. Even in her state as a human, before the seal had begun to break and Adelaide had begun to drift back in, they were still Aligned. The universe had still wanted them together, building towards the future fixed events.

Now, as Amy and Rory played darts in the lower level of the console room, the Doctor was standing at the console itself, watching the scan he'd been performing on Amy again. Adelaide had gone to look for a certain book she wanted to read, but he didn't know when she would come back.

In order to attempt and drown out his thoughts, the Doctor was blasting a Muse song, which, thankfully, the humans had not complained about yet, and the TARDISes could keep Adelaide from hearing.

The Doctor glanced at the scan. The results were the same as they had always been; it couldn't tell if she was pregnant or not. He wanted to talk to Adelaide about that, but he didn't know if she would be willing to do that.

It felt almost like they'd been right after Caroline had opened the fob watch; they knew they were the last two Time Lords in the universe, but they were still determining what their relationship should be. What expectations they really, honestly, wanted to live up to.

He looked up to see Adelaide standing at the entrance to the console room, her eyebrows raised at him. Quickly, he shut off the music. "Who wants fish and chips?" he called to the humans. Rory raised his hand. "I'll drop you both off. Take your time. Don't rush."

Rory paused, frowning. "Er, and you?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Things to do. Things involving…other things."

Amy moved towards the stairs. "Well, we'll stay with you. We'll do the other things."

"Nope."

"Whatever you're up to, I'd personally like to be a part of it." Amy frowned at the Doctor, having not noticed Adelaide had arrived. "What?"

He was cut off by the klaxon blaring and the TARDIS jerking around the room, making everyone cling to something in order not to be thrown around. Amy and Rory managed to grab onto the railing while the Doctor piloted the TARDIS, but Adelaide was thrown back against a wall before she could do anything.

"Solar tsunami!" he managed to shout. "Came directly from your sun. A tidal wave of radiation. Big, big, big…"

"Oh Doctor," Rory gripped his stomach, "my tummy's going funny."

"Well, the gyrator disconnected. Target tracking is out." The Doctor threw a final lever up, but nothing happened. He froze. "Assume the position!"

They all hunched to the ground as the TARDIS jerked around even more violently. It finally landed with a loud crash, and the Doctor forced himself to look up at Adelaide. She was rubbing her forehead, sitting against the wall, but she did smile when he looked at her. "Textbook landing," the Doctor said, and watched her sigh.

Lose that smile.

|C-S|

The Doctor led the way out of the TARDIS to find they had landed ("crashed", as he'd heard Adelaide mumbling) on an island with a large monastery-like building in front of them, though it was partially ruins. There was a weathervane on top of one of the spires. "Behold, a cockerel!" the Doctor cheered. "Love a cockerel. And underneath, a monastery. Thirteenth century."

"Oh, we've gone all medieval."

Rory shook his head. "I'm not sure about that."

Amy looked at him. "Really? Medieval expert are you?"

"No, it's just that I can hear Dusty Springfield."

Adelaide smiled at Rory. "Good job Rory. Noticing everything." The Doctor instantly felt irritated that Adelaide was smiling at Rory, that she was giving her attention to anyone who wasn't him, even though he also didn't want her attention, not at the moment.

Goodness, learning they were Aligned had complicated everything.

If they'd been on Gallifrey, it wouldn't have been nearly this confusing to manage. There, they wouldn't have had the pressure of the fact they were the last two Time Lords in the entire universe.

There were enough expectations there. Combine it with the fact that they were Aligned, and there was a lot of responsibility for two Time Lords who tended to run away.

The Doctor started walking towards a stairway that would bring them to a courtyard, but he paused when he saw a hole in the ground, waving Adelaide over to see it. Even if they avoided each other in the TARDIS, they still needed to work together on adventures, particularly this one; they'd come up with the plan together, the longest conversations they'd had since Idris.

"The fissures are new," Adelaide said. "Solar tsunami sent out a large wave of gamma particles that must have caused a magnetic quake just before it hit."

Amy shrugged. "Well, the monastery's standing."

The Doctor pulled a snow globe from his pocket and shook it, studying it closely before putting it away. "Yeah, for now…"

"Adelaide, look," Rory said, pointing to the pipe with the words 'Danger Corrosive' on it.

She nodded. "A supply pipe." Pulling out her sonic, she scanned it. "Ceramic inner lining. They're sending something corrosive off the island to the mainland."

"My mum's a massive fan of Dusty Springfield."

"Who isn't?" The Doctor clapped. "Right, let's go. Satisfy our rabid curiosity."

|C-S|

Entering the courtyard revealed that a large portion of the building was actually habitable, though some of it was still in ruins. "So where are these Dusty Springfield loving monks, then?" Amy asked, looking around.

"I think we're here," the Doctor said, speaking more to Adelaide than anyone else. "This is it."

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Rory said, making the Doctor spin to look at him. Adelaide just rolled her eyes. "We've never been here before."

"Hmm?"

"We came here by accident," Amy prompted.

"Accident?" he nodded. "Yes, I know. Accident."

They all walked towards the stairs, but Rory reached out and touched the pipe that ran along the stairs. "Ow!"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at him, looking almost like she didn't quite believe he'd actually just done that. "Don't just touch random pipes, Rory. That was acid." The man's eyes widened. "Thankfully, that was just old acid. If it had been fresh you wouldn't have had a finger."

"Intruder alert," an alarm began. "Intruder alert."

The Time Lords turned back to Amy and Rory after exchanging a look. "There are people coming."

"Well, almost."

Amy frowned. "Almost coming?"

"Almost people." They began to walk again.

"I think we should really be going," Rory called.

Amy just sighed, grabbing Rory's arm. "Come on!"

"I'm telling you, when something runs towards you, it is never for a nice reason."

|C-S|

They rushed into one of the monastery rooms to see a collection of human shaped harnesses with people resting inside.

"What are all these harnesses for?" Amy asked.

"The almost people?"

"What are they, prisoners, or are they meditating, or what?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, at the moment they fall into the 'or what' category."

"Halt and remain calm," the computer ordered.

"Well, we've halted. How are we all doing on the calm front?" the Doctor looked between all of them.

"Don't move!" a man ordered as a trio burst into the room, the two men pointing lances at the time travelers.

"Stay back, Jen," the younger man said. "We don't know who they are."

"So let's ask them," the woman, Jen, said. "Who the hell are you?"

Adelaide glanced between the group and the people in the harnesses, seeing duplicates. "I'm Adelaide, this is the Doctor, and this is Amy and Rory."

"Hold up," Amy said, frowning. "You're all…what are you all? Like identical twins?"

Two more people, dressed in some sort of protective suits, entered the room behind them. "This is an Alpha-grade industrial facility," the older woman of the pair said. "Unless you work for the military or for Morpeth Jetson, you are in big trouble."

"Actually, you're in big trouble," the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper.

"Meteorological Department, since when?"

"Since you were hit by a solar wave," Adelaide said.

"Which we survived."

"Just, by the look of it," the Doctor looked around the room. "And there's a bigger one on the way."

"Which we'll also survive. Dicken, scan for bugs."

The man who'd entered with her stepped up, holding out a scanner. "Backs against the wall. Now."

The four of them did as he asked, holding up their hands and backing against a wall. "You're not a monastery, you're a factory," the Doctor said. "22nd-century army-owned factory."

Amy eyed the people. "You're army?"

"No, love, we're contractors, and you're trespassers."

"It's clear, boss."

"Alright, weatherman, you ID checks out." The woman passed the Doctor the paper, and when the Time Lords glanced at it, they found that her name was Miranda Cleaves. "If there's another solar storm, what are you going to do about it? Hand out sunblock?"

"We need to see your critical systems."

Cleaves frowned. "Which one?"

"You know which one."

|C-S|

Cleaves brought them to a room which had, apparently, been named the 'Flesh Room'. Near the back was a large vat of bubbling white liquid and it was immediately where Adelaide and the Doctor went. "And there you are," the Doctor whispered.

"Meet the government's worst kept secret," Cleaves said. "The Flesh. It's fully programmable matter. In fact, it's even learning to replicate itself at a cellular level."

Amy nodded. "Right. Brilliant. Lost."

"Okay. Once a reading's been taken, we can manipulate its molecular structure into anything. Replicate a living organism down to the hairs on its chinny-chin-chin. Even clothes. And everything's identical. Eyes, voice…"

"Mind, soul," the Doctor breathed, still looking at the Flesh.

"Don't be fooled, Doctor. It acts like life but it still needs to be controlled by us, from those harnesses you saw."

Rory took a step back from the people closest to him. "Wait, whoa. Hold it. So, you're Flesh now?"

Cleaves shrugged. "I'm lying in a harness back in that chamber. We all are, except Jennifer here. Don't be scared. This thing? Just like operating a forklift truck."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "You said it could grow. Only things technically classified as 'living' grow."

"Moss grows. It's no more than that. This acid is so dangerous we were losing a worker every week. So now we mine the acid using these doppelgangers, or Gangers. If these bodies get burnt or fall in the acid…"

"Then who the hell cares, right, Jen?" the younger man, Ganger Buzzer, said.

Jen shrugged. "Nerve endings automatically cut off like the airbags being discharged. We wake up and get a new Ganger."

"It's weird, but you get used to it," Ganger Jimmy added.

"Jennifer, I want you in your Ganger. Get back to the harness." Jen sighed at the order, but she left.

The Doctor looked up at Adelaide, since they were now standing on opposite sides of the vat. He already had his sonic out, but he was clearly asking if she knew it was alright if he was the one who scanned it. Adelaide didn't know enough about the Flesh yet to truly say, but there didn't seem to be a problem with scanning the Flesh. She gave him a small nod and he began to scan.

"Hang on," Ganger Buzzer said, looking over at them. "What's he up to? What you up to, pal?"

The Doctor frowned, trying to pull his arm away, but nothing was happening. Adelaide felt almost like her hearts were stopping. "Stop it," the Doctor said. Whatever was holding him let go and he fell backwards. "Strange. It was like, for a moment there, it was scanning me." Without even looking at Adelaide, the Doctor moved forward to touch his hand against the surface of the Flesh.

"Doctor…" she said, moving to stop him, but it was too late as his hand began to shake and he clearly couldn't pull it away.

"Get back, Doctor," Ganger Cleaves said. "Leave it alone."

Finally, the Doctor could pull himself away and instantly Adelaide rushed to scan him, not caring that they had silently agreed to give each other a break. She needed to know that he was okay. The Doctor grabbed her hands once she was close enough. "Incredible," he breathed. You have no idea…no idea. I mean, I felt it in my mind. I reached out to it, and it to me."

Ganger Cleaves sighed. "Don't fiddle with the money, Doctor."

The Doctor, still holding onto Adelaide's hands, looked over at her. "How can you be so blinkered? It's alive, so alive. You're piling your lives, your personalities directly into it." Lighting crashed around them and the Doctor pulled out his snow globe again, still holding onto Adelaide with one hand without thinking about it. "It's the solar storm."

Adelaide nodded. "The first waves come in pairs, pre-shock and fore-shock. It's close."

"Buzzer, we got anything from the mainland yet?" Ganger Cleaves asked Ganger Buzzer.

"No, the comms are still too jammed with radiation."

"Okay. Then we'll keep pumping acid until the mainland says stop. Now, why don't you stand back and let us impress you?" they all stepped away to look at a tub more to the center of the room. It had already begun to fill with Flesh.

They watched as a face began to form, starting with the mouth and eyes. The rest of the Flesh pressed together until it took a human form, including the clothes, and looked like Jennifer, except the face took a bit longer to look fully formed. She sat up with a gasp.

"Well, I can see why you keep it in a church," the Doctor said. "Miracle of life."

Ganger Buzzer scoffed at him. "No need to get poncey. It's just gunge."

"Guys, we need to get to work."

Ganger Jimmy helped Ganger Jen out of the tub. "Okay, everybody, let's crack on."

The Doctor frowned. "Didn't we mention the solar storm? You need to get out of here."

Ganger Jimmy turned to them. "Where do you want us to go? We're on a tiny island."

"Well, we can get you all off it."

"Don't be ridiculous," Ganger Cleaves scoffed. "We've got a job to do."

Adelaide nodded towards the window, spotting the storm. "It's coming."

Thankfully, at that moment, an alarm sounded which actually made the Gangers stop. "That's the alarm," Ganger Jen said.

"How do you get power?"

"We're solar," Ganger Cleaves said to the Doctor. "We use a solar router. The weathervane."

"Big problem."

"Boss, maybe if the storm's back we should get underground," Ganger Jimmy said, stepping up. "The factory's seen better days. The acid pipes might not withstand another hit."

"We have two hundred tons of acid to pump out. We fall behind, we stay another rotation. Anyone want that?"

The Doctor moved closer to Ganger Cleaves, finally letting go of Adelaide's hand. "Please, you are making a massive mistake her. You're right at the crossroads of it. Don't turn the wrong way. If you don't, if you don't prepare for this storm, you are all in terrible danger. Understand?"

"My factory, my rules."

Adelaide touched the Doctor's shoulder, keeping him from moving forwards. "I need to check the progress of the storm. Can I see your monitoring station?" she looked expectantly at Ganger Jen.

"Three lefts, a right, and a left. Third door on your left."

She nodded. "Thank you."

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide led the way to the monitoring station as the building began to shake from the storm. At the center of the room was a bank of instruments and the Time Lords turned to look at Amy and Rory, who had followed them. "The waves are disturbing the Earth's magnetic field," Adelaide explained. "There is going to be a power surge."

The Doctor pointed up. "See this weathervane, the cock-a-doodle-do? It's a solar router feeding the whole factory with solar power. When that wave hits, ka-boom."

Adelaide nodded. "I'm going to get up there before anything happens." But, before she could move, the Doctor grabbed her arm.

"What do you mean, 'you'?" he frowned.

"I may not know how to fix a TARDIS, but I did study solar flares. I know how solar routers work." She smirked. "And you don't have the best track record with climbing onto high points in the middle of a storm."

He groaned. "You weren't even there!"

She just shrugged and stepped away, turning to run out to go to the roof. The Doctor turned to Amy, very badly attempting to hide the fact he was quite scared for Adelaide. "Amy, breathe."

Amy frowned. "Yeah! I mean, thanks. I'll try."

|C-S|

Adelaide hurried along the roof of the monastery towards the tower the weathervane was on the top of. She climbed it easily, thanking the various adventures she and the Doctor had had for that. She'd never been that good at climbing before she'd once had to climb away from a lava flow.

Then she'd learned quickly.

Halfway up she found a small power box and began to pull relays, but she didn't get that far before lightning struck the tower and sent her falling back off the ladder.

|C-S|

When she came to, wincing, Adelaide looked up to see that the weathervane was completely gone. But she didn't wait before running back down to the monitoring station, knowing the Doctor would wait there for her. She found him lying on the ground, unconscious, and fell to her knees beside him.

She would never admit it, but she was honestly terrified.

Thankfully, he woke quickly, and he looked a bit shocked to see her face so close to his. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I think everyone was unconscious." She helped him stand. "Where are Amy and Rory?"

"They were going back to the harness room." He rubbed his head. "How long has it been?"

She shrugged. "At least an hour, I think." The pair walked out into the courtyard to find Cleaves looking quite confused.

"Cleaves, you're not in your harness," the Doctor called to her.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, Adelaide." She looked at them with an expression that made Adelaide frown. "You were right."

Adelaide nodded. "You've lost all power to the factory."

"I abandoned my team."

The Doctor smiled. "Then let's go get them."

 **A/N: Ooo, uncomfortable place for the Time Lords to be in. A lot of pressure for two people who really don't function well under that.**

 **And a bit more information on Aligning. Technically, it really doesn't mean anything, but there were a lot of social expectations on Gallifrey for Time Lords as Aligned as the Doctor and Adelaide. Especially ones who seemed romantically inclined.**

 **The Wednesday chapters are probably going to start being a bit later now that I've gone back to college. I'm going to try and continue them, but I hope you all understand that school work takes precedence.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _time-twilight: A bit more on how Time Lords view it here, but if you have any specific questions, I'd love to answer them._


	10. Mistake

**Mistake**

They walked through the tunnels, both Time Lords looking at Cleaves curiously. "How long would you say we were unconscious for, Cleaves?"

Cleaves shrugged. "Not long. A minute, two minutes?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "I'd guess we've been out for longer."

"Well, how long?"

"An hour."

The Doctor nodded. "I've seen whole worlds turned inside out in an hour. A lot can go wrong in an hour."

|C-S|

When the trio ran into the harness room, they found Dicken, Jimmy, Buzz, Jenny, Amy, and Rory. Jenny was in Rory's arms and it looked like he was attempting to comfort her. "Doctor, Adelaide, these are all real people," Amy said to the Time Lords, "so where are their Gangers?"

"Don't worry. When the link shuts down the Gangers return to pure Flesh," Cleaves said. "Now, the storm's left us with acid leaks all over, so we need to contact the mainland. They can have a rescue shuttle out here in no time."

And then, quietly, they could hear a Dusty Springfield record playing in the distance.

Jimmy frowned. "That's my record. Who's playing my record?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Your Gangers."

"They've gone walkabout."

Cleaves shook her head. "No, it's impossible. They're not active. Cars don't fly themselves, cranes don't lift themselves, and Gangers don't…" but they all just looked towards where the music was coming from.

|C-S|

The group entered the dining hall where the record was playing from. "No way," Buzzer said, shaking his head.

"I don't…I don't believe this."

"They could've escaped through the service door at the back."

"This is just like the Isle of Sheppey."

The Doctor leaned against the table. "It would seem the storm has animated your Gangers."

Cleaves looked around the room, which was in quite a bit of disarray. "They've ransacked everything."

"Not ransacked," Adelaide corrected. "Searched."

"Through our stuff!"

"Their stuff."

"Searching for what?"

"Confirmation." The Doctor pushed himself away from the table. "They need to know their memories are real."

Buzzer sighed. "Oh, so they've got flaming memories now."

"They feel compelled to connect to their lives."

"Their stolen lives."

Adelaide shook her head. "You gave them this. You gave everything to the Flesh, all the wonder and power that is human life."

The Doctor nodded. "Human lives are amazing. Are you surprised they walked off with them?" he and Adelaide exchanged a small smile; a reminder that, despite everything that could happen and would happen to them, they still agreed on that fact.

But the fact Adelaide agreed at all…she didn't like that.

Buzzer sighed. "I'll say it again. Isle of Sheppey. Ganger got an electric shock, toddled off, killed his operator right there in his harness. I've seen the photos. This bloke's ear was all hanging-"

"Even if this has actually happened," Kimmy cut in, "they can't remain stable without us plumbed into them, can they, boss?"

Cleaves shrugged. "Guess we'll find out."

Rory looked to Jenny, who looked even more uneasy. "Are you okay? Do you need some water?"

"I feel funny. I need the washroom." Jenny ran out of the room.

"I'll come with you." Rory, glancing at the Time Lords for them to nod, hurried after her just as Dicken sneezed, making Amy jump.

"Sorry."

The Doctor turned so that he could better examine the card tower set up on the table.

"That's me," Buzzer said, noticing it for the first time. "It's good to have a hobby. So, what, my ganger did that all on its own?"

"Who taught you to do this?"

"My granddad."

"Well, your Ganger's grandad just taught him to do it, too," the Doctor said. "You both have the same childhood memories, just as clear, just as real."

Buzzer knocked down the tower. "No."

"Scared, disoriented, struggling to come to terms with an entire life in their heads." The Doctor frowned at Buzzer before moving away from the table to speak quickly to Adelaide, leaving the rest of the group to gather around the table.

"We need to protect ourselves," Jimmy said.

"Are you a violent man?" Adelaide asked him as the Doctor put some food into the microwave.

"No."

"Then why would the other Jimmy be?"

Cleaves raised her eyebrows at the Doctor. "Don't tell me you can eat at a time like this, Doctor."

"You said we'd been out for a few minutes," Adelaide continued, "when, in truth, it had been an hour."

Cleaves shrugged. "Sorry, I just assumed."

The Doctor turned back around. "Well, it's not your fault. Like I said, they're disoriented." The microwave dinged and the Doctor moved to take the food out.

Adelaide turned to Amy. "Amy, who was in the harnesses when you arrived?"

"Jimmy and Dicken were helping Buzzer out."

"Jennifer?"

"She was standing on her own when we got to her."

The Doctor handed his plate to Cleaves, who took it without flinching. "It's hot," he told her and Cleaves hissed, dropping it.

Adelaide nodded. "Nerve endings must not have fused properly yet."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's okay."

"Why didn't I feel that?"

"You will," the Doctor told her. "You'll stabilize."

Cleaves shook her head. "No, stop it. You're playing stupid games. Stop it!" She turned her back on them.

"You don't have to hide," the Doctor said carefully, approaching her. "Please, trust me. I'm the Doctor."

Ganger Cleaves spun with a hiss, her face half-formed. Buzzer grabbed a knife, but Jimmy kept him back. "Where's the real Cleaves, you thing? What have you done with her?"

The Doctor, ignoring the humans, held out his hand to Ganger Cleaves. "That's it. Good, you remember. This is early Flesh. The early stages of the technology. So much…" he put a hand on her shoulder "to learn."

Amy moved to stand by Adelaide. "What's happened to her?"

"She can't stabilize," Adelaide explained. "At the moment, she'll be shifting between half-formed and fully-formed."

"We are living!" Ganger Cleaves lunged at the Doctor and ran from the room, screaming.

"Let her go," the Doctor told them all, but spoke in particular to the humans.

Amy's eyes widened. "Doctor, Rory."

"Rory?"

"Rory!"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh, Rory, Rory! Always with the Rory!"

|C-S|

The group ran through the monastery, trying to find their way to Rory, except most paths were blocked by pools of acid. "Explosion must've ruptured the acid feeds," Jimmy reasoned. "We're going to need the acid suits."

"No, no, no. We haven't got time." They turned and rushed to another part of the monastery. "Back, back, back!"

|C-S|

They managed to find the washroom that Jenny and Rory had gone to, and the only way they knew was because of the large hole in one of the stall doors. "Rory," Amy said.

"Of course, Jennifer's a Ganger too," the Doctor said, his eyes wide.

"Adelaide, you said they wouldn't be violent…"

"But the Doctor said they were scared and angry," she corrected.

"And early technology is what you said," Jimmy turned to them. "You seem to know something about the Flesh."

Amy turned to them too. "Do you? Doctor? Adelaide?"

Jimmy eyed them. "You're no weatherman. Why are you two really here?"

The Doctor looked towards Adelaide. "We have to talk to them. We can fix this." She raised her eyebrows at him but said nothing when he took her hand and pulled her from the room, leaving the other two just to follow.

"Wait!" Jimmy called. "What's going on? Where's the real Jennifer?"

They had just gone up another set of stairs and down a tunnel when a pipe burst in front of them, shooting out steam and making them fall back, thankfully not stepping in the acid on the ground. "It is too dangerous out here with acid leaks!"

"We have to find Rory."

"It would be safer to look with the TARDIS," Adelaide offered, making it quite clear that she and the Doctor weren't going to be separated at this moment.

Jimmy hurried to a box on the wall. "Here we go. Distress flares."

"Exit?" Adelaide asked him.

"Keep going straight. Can't miss it. But you're never going to get your vehicle in here."

The Doctor grinned. "I'm a great parker." He grabbed Adelaide's hand again and they rushed off.

|C-S|

The Time Lords stopped in the Flesh Room on their way out, hurrying up to the vat of Flesh. The Doctor scanned it one last time, making it bubble, and grinned at Adelaide before they both rushed from the room.

Behind them, a mouth appeared in the Flesh. "Trust me…"

|C-S|

By the time they reached it, the TARDIS was already half-sunk into the acid-soaked earth. "Oh," the Doctor groaned. "What are you doing down there?"

"Doctor!" she pulled him back, pointing down towards where he had, actually, been standing in a pool of acid. Quickly, he ripped off his shoes, before spinning and checking Adelaide's feet.

Unsurprisingly, she'd not gone too close.

|C-S|

Back in the monastery, the Time Lords found a collection of acid suits lying on the ground and a group of half-formed Gangers standing next to them. The Doctor grinned. "Hello. How are you all getting on?"

"Why don't you tell us?" Ganger Cleaves glared at them.

"There are two choices," Adelaide said. "The first; tear each other apart, which I don't advise. The second; work together. Determine how we can help you."

A bit later, the Time Lords emerged from the room with the Gangers, the entire group now fully-formed. "Now, we know it's hard for you to hold your fully human form," the Doctor said as they walked. "That's why you keep shifting between the Flesh stages, but do try. It'll make the others less scared of you."

|C-S|

The group walked into the dining room, where the humans were stationed, just as Amy said: "Okay, let's not do anything at all-"

The Doctor finished her statement with her. "Until the Doctor and Adelaide get here." The entire room, which looked like they were confronting Jennifer, who must have been a Ganger, turned to look at them. "Hello."

"This is…" Jimmy said, his eyes wide.

Ganger Jimmy nodded. "You're telling me."

Ganger Cleaves sighed. "All right, Doctor, Adelaide, you've brought us together. Now what?"

"Before we do anything, I have one very important question. Has anybody got a pair of shoes I could borrow? Size ten." He pointed down at his feet. "Although, I should warn you, I have very wide feet."

Someone managed to find a pair of brown work boots that fit him, even if no one actually knew who's shoes they were. The Doctor sat at the edge of the table with Adelaide next to him, Amy behind them both. On one side was the original group, and the other was the Gangers, though Rory was standing with Ganger Jenny now.

"The Flesh was never moss," Adelaide said. "They're not copies."

"The storm has hardwired them. They are becoming people."

"With souls?" Jimmy asked."

"Rubbish!" Dicken scoffed, then sneezed.

"Bless you," his Ganger said quickly.

The Doctor nodded. "We were all jelly once. Little jelly eggs sitting in goop."

Amy grimaced. "Yeah, thanks. Too much information."

"We're not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up. We are talking about sacred life. Do you understand?" he waited until at least one person nodded. "Good. Now, the TARDIS is trapped in an acid pool. Once we reach her," he gestured between himself and Adelaide, "I can get you all off this island, humans and Gangers, eh? How does that sound?"

"Can I make it home for Adam's birthday?"

Ganger Jimmy frowned. "What about me? He's my son too."

"You?" Jimmy scoffed. "You really think that?"

Ganger Jimmy nodded. "I feel it."

"Oh, so you were there when he was born, were you?"

"Yeah. I drank about eight pints of tea, then they told me I had a wee boy and I just burst out laughing." Ganger Jimmy laughed at the thought. "No idea why. I miss home, as much as you."

The Doctor shook his head. "Look, we're not going to lie to you. It's a right old mess, this. But as you might say up north, 'oh well, I'll just go to t' foot of stairs. Eee, by by, gum'. Or not." The entire group looked at him oddly. "Good. Right."

Adelaide touched his shoulder. "First, we need to get everyone together and safe. Then we can get everyone out of here."

Amy frowned. "But we're still missing Jennifer and Cleaves."

Jimmy stood. "I'll go and look for them."

Ganger Jimmy stood too. "I'll give you a hand, if you like. Cover more ground."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks."

"This circus has gone on long enough!" Cleaves said, making all of them turn. She had a device crackling with electricity, holding it like a weapon.

Ganger Cleaves sighed. "Oh, great. You see, that is just so typically me."

"Doctor, tell it to shut up!"

The Doctor stood, holding out a hand to Cleaves. "Cleaves, no. No, no."

"Circuit probe. Fires about, oh, forty thousand volts?" Cleaves shrugged. "Would kill any one of us, so I guess she'll work on Gangers just the same."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "It's interesting you refer to them as 'it', but you call a glorified cattle prod a 'she'."

"When the real people are safely off this island, then I'll happily talk philosophy over a pint with you, Doctor."

"What are you going to do to them?" Amy frowned at her.

"Sorry. They're monsters. Mistakes. They have to be destroyed."

The Doctor held out his hand. "Give me the probe, Cleaves."

"We always have to take charge, don't we, Miranda?" Ganger Cleaves said. "Even when we don't really know what the hell is going on."

Ganger Buzzer rushed at Cleaves and she zapped him, making him fall to the ground, motionless. The Doctor ran to him, scanning him, while Adelaide took over the position of attempting to keep Cleaves from attacking anyone else. "He's dead!" the Doctor said, falling back on his heels.

"We call it 'decommissioned'," Cleaves corrected, smirking.

"You stopped his heart," the Doctor said, looking at the scans. "He had a heart. Aorta, valves, a real human heart. And you stopped it."

"Jen?" Rory said to Ganger Jenny as she backed away from him.

"What happened to Buzzer will happen to all of us if we trust you!"

"Wait, wait, just wait," the Doctor tried to defuse the situation, but it didn't seem to be working.

"No!" Rory shouted as Cleaves stepped forward, ready to fire at Ganger Jenny. He knocked her to the ground, snatching the probe and giving the Gangers the chance to run out of the room.

"You idiot!"

"Wait!" the Doctor called after the Gangers, but none of them stopped. "Look at what you have done, Cleaves."

"If it's war, then it's war. You don't get it, Doctor. How can you? It's us and them now." She turned to the rest of her crew. "Us and them."

Dicken nodded. "Us and them."

Jimmy sighed. "Us and them."

"Us and them," Buzzer agreed quickly.

Amy and Rory gave him quite a surprised expression before kneeling to cover Ganger Buzzer, speaking quietly together as they worked.

"The most fortified and defendable room in the monastery?" the Doctor said to Cleaves. "Cleaves, the most fortified and defendable room in the monastery?"

"The chapel."

The Doctor nodded. "Thank you."

"Only one way in. Stone walls, two feet thick."

"You've crossed one hell of a line, Cleaves. You've killed one of them. You're coming back, in a big way." The Doctor and Adelaide led the way out of the room.

|C-S|

"What about the flares?" Jimmy asked as the entire group ran towards the chapel.

"We'll worry about the flares when we're locked inside." The time travelers paused, leaving the rest of the humans to run inside the chapel. "Rory Pond." They'd heard Jenny's scream, and Rory had paused.

"Jen's out there. She's out there and she's on her own."

"Well, if she's got any sense, then she's hiding. Rory!"

Rory shook his head. "I can't leave her out there!"

"Rory!"

"I know you understand that."

Amy shook her head. "Get in here. Get in here!"

The Gangers appeared at the end of the hallway, dressed in acid suits. Rory looked back before running off. "There they are!"

"Amy," the Doctor grabbed Amy's arm, pulling her into the room.

"Rory!" but Adelaide didn't give her a chance, locking the door behind them. They moved back to let the crew barricade the door.

"Amy," the Doctor told Amy, "they are not after him, they're after us."

"Why?" a voice whispered from the back of the room. "Why?"

Adelaide turned to look into the dark and the Doctor came to stand beside her, taking her hand quickly. "Show yourself," she told the dark. "Show yourself, please."

"Doctor! Adelaide!"

"Pass me the barrel," Cleaves called.

"We need something heavy. Anything you can find."

Jimmy shook his head. "This is insane. We're fighting ourselves."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. Yes, it's insane, and it's about to get even more insaner." He frowned. "Is that a word? Show yourself, right now!"

Amy stepped up to the Time Lords. "Doctor, we are trapped in here and Rory's out there with them. Hello? We can't get to the TARDIS and we can't even leave the island!"

"Correct in every respect, Pond," the Doctor's voice said, though it came from the shadow instead of the man himself. "It's frightening, unexpected, frankly a total, utter splattering mess on the carpet, but I am certain, one hundred percent certain, that we can work this out." Adelaide raised her eyebrows as a Ganger Doctor, his face half-formed, stepped out of the darkness and tweaked his bow-tie. "Trust me. I'm the Doctor."

 **A/N: I was tempted to make a Ganger Adelaide but we all know she wouldn't touch the random tub of Flesh :)**


	11. Trust

**Trust**

The Ganger Doctor screamed, contorting himself as it seemed that he finally absorbed all of the Doctor's memories. "What's happening? I wonder if we'll get back. Yes, one day…argh! I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow."

Adelaide nodded. "The Flesh is struggling to cope with your past regenerations," she whispered, sounding almost enraptured by the sight before her.

The Ganger leaned forward, holding out his hand, speaking with the voice of the Doctor's fourth incarnation, which Adelaide recognized from various records in the TARDIS. "Would you like a jelly baby?" he jerked back. "Why? Why? Why?"

"Why what?"

He straightened. "Hello, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor's last regeneration and something in Adelaide pained, though she didn't know where or why. "No, let it go, we've moved on!"

The Doctor rushed to his Ganger's side, Jimmy pulling Amy back. "Hold on, hold on, you can stabilize."

"I've reversed the jelly baby of the neutron flow." The Ganger grabbed the Doctor's jacket. "Would you like a Doctor…Doctor…I'm…I'm the…I can't…"

"No, listen, hold on. Hold on!"

The Ganger pushed the Doctor away. "No! Argh!" he looked up, and his face was only half-formed.

The Time Lords could just hear the other Gangers, who had been banging quite furiously on the door, go quiet. "I think I liked it best when they were being noisy," Buzzer said, frowning at it.

"Doctor, Adelaide, we need you," Amy said to both of them. "Get over here."

The Ganger Doctor winced but waved to Amy. "Hello."

Amy didn't look at him. "Doctor."

"Cybermats," the Doctor asked.

"Do we have time for this?"

The Doctor shrugged. "We make time. We'd both like more proof that you're me. Cybermats."

"Created by the Cyberman. They kill by feeding off brainwaves."

Amy turned back to the people at the door, determining that it wasn't worth attempting to get either Time Lord to listen to her at the moment. "Are you sure there aren't any weapons we can get to, like big guns with bits on?"

Buzzer nodded. "Yeah, big guns would be good right now."

"Why would we have guns?" Jimmy fell back against the door. "We're a factory. We mine."

They could hear smoke through the door. "Acid…"

The Ganger Doctor moved closer to the Time Lords. "Rory and Amy, they may not trust both of us," he said to the Doctor, giving Adelaide a curious look.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Inevitably."

"I'm glad we're on the same-"

"-wavelength. You see, great minds."

"Exactly."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Goodness, two of you is going to be exhausting."

They both grinned. "So, what's the plan?"

"Save them all, humans and gangers."

The Ganger shrugged. "Tall order. Sounds wonderful."

"Is that what you were thinking?"

"It's just so inspiring to hear me say it."

"I know."

"Doctor, Adelaide, come on!" Amy called.

"So, what now, Doctor?"

"Well, time to get cracking, Doctor."

Adelaide rubbed her forehead, sighing. She knew that the Ganger was the Doctor, that much was quite clear, especially given the fact she could just about feel him on the edge of her consciousness. Which meant both of them would get quite excited over the concept of having a double version of themselves.

Honestly, Adelaide was pretty certain she would have a similar reaction, but she hoped she wouldn't have been quite so…excitable.

The Doctor and the Ganger came up on either side of Adelaide, both grinning. One, wearing black shoes, leaned in and quickly whispered what they'd done so that she understood the plan. Then they all stepped up to Amy, who looked at the shoes.

"Hello," both Ganger and Doctor said, speaking in unison. "Sorry, but we had to establish a few ground rules."

"Formulate a protocol," the Doctor nodded.

"Protocol? Very posh."

"A protocol between us. Otherwise…"

"It gets horribly embarrassing."

"And potentially confusing."

Amy sighed. "I'm glad you've solved the problem of confusing."

"That's sarcasm," the Ganger said.

"She's very good at sarcasm."

"Breathe!" they both shouted at Amy in unison.

"What?"

"We have to get you off this island. And the Gangers too."

Cleaves scoffed. "Sorry, would you like a memo from the last meeting? They are trying to kill us!"

Adelaide shrugged, crossing her arms. "They're scared you're going to kill them."

"We're trapped in here," Amy reminded them.

"Right, see, I don't think so." The Doctor looked at the ceiling. "The Flesh Bowl is fed by cabling from above."

"But where are the earthing conduits?"

"All this piping must go down into a tunnel or a shaft or something, yes?" the Doctor moved to a back wall, pulling down a panel. "With us?" he found a grate, grinning. "Yowza! An escape route."

Amy frowned. "Yowza?"

The Doctor turned to Adelaide. "You know, I'm starting to get a sense of just how impressive it is to hang out with me."

"I wouldn't have said impressive," she said, shrugging.

"Do we tend to say 'yowza'?" the Ganger called.

The Doctor grimaced. "That's enough, let it go, okay? We're under stress."

|C-S|

The entire group hurried down the tunnel as they heard the Gangers following them. "The army will send a recon team out," Buzzer told them.

"We need to find a way to contact the mainland."

"What about Rory and Jen? They are both out there."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, this place is a maze. Takes a long time to find someone in a maze. I bet you lot have got a computer map, haven't you?"

Cleaves nodded. "If we can get power running, we can scan for them. Be a lot quicker." She started to cough, and soon they all were.

"Doctor, you said earlier to breathe," Amy said.

He nodded. "Very important, Pond. Breathe."

"Yeah, well, I'm struggling to."

Adelaide coughed. "Acid interacting with the stone, creating an asphyxiant miasma."

Cleaves frowned at her. "A what?"

"Choking gas," she explained. "Heavy…we need to get above it."

"The evac tower. It's this way!" Cleaves ran off, leading them to where they needed to go.

|C-S|

Once they finally reached the evac tower, thankful for the fresh air, the humans rushed towards the control panels. Amy leaned against something, breathing heavily. "Oh, I think I coughed so hard, I pulled a muscle or something." She nodded. "It's okay, it's better. It's easing off."

The Doctor and his Ganger moved towards a large panel as a bell started to ring, chiming the hour. "It's midnight," Jimmy commented, looking up. "It's Adam's birthday. My son's five. Happy birthday, bud."

|C-S|

The entire group watched the Doctor and his Ganger worked on repairing the power. The two worked quite good in unison and Adelaide kept anyone else from trying to help them, including herself. If there'd only been one Doctor she probably would have been able to attempt something, but she'd decided that, over all, the Ganger and the Doctor were far better together at this than she and the Doctor would have been.

"Can you really get the power back?" Cleaves asked him, walking towards Adelaide and Amy.

"There's always some power floating around," the Ganger said, ducking down.

"Sticking to the wires," the Doctor continued, "like bits of lint."

Amy sighed. "Can you stop finishing each other's-"

"Sentences?" the Doctor finished for her. "No probs."

"Yes." The two dropped down again.

"No, hang on," Amy looked at Adelaide. "You said that the TARDIS was stuck in acid, so won't she be damaged?"

Adelaide shook her head. "The TARDIS is quite tough, she'll be fine."

The Doctor popped up again. "Tough, old, sexy."

"Tough, dependable, sexy," the Ganger added and then they both went quite red.

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "I call the TARDIS 'Sexy' too, remember. No need to be embarrassed."

"Come on," Amy scoffed, shaking her head. "Okay, how can…how can you both be real?"

"Well, because we are. I'm the Doctor."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, and so am I. We both contain the knowledge of over nine hundred years of memory and experience."

"We both wear the same bow-tie, which is cool."

"Because bow-ties are."

"And always will be."

"But how did the Flesh read you? Because you weren't linked up to it."

Adelaide crossed her arms. "Could have been after he examined it when we were going to the TARDIS." She shrugged. "Couldn't help it, we were both curious. Tempted to do it myself, but I have better impulse control. But, thus, a new Doctor was born."

The Ganger waved. "Ta-da."

"No getting away from it. One of you was here first."

"Well, okay," the Doctor sighed. "After the Flesh scanned me, I had an accident with a puddle of acid, though Adelaide saved me from anything too bad happening. Now, new shoes. A situation which did not confront my learned self here."

"That satisfy you, Pond?"

"Don't call me Pond, please." All three of them looked at Amy curiously. "What?"

"Interesting," the Ganger said. "You definitely feel more affection for him than me."

"No, no, I…look, you're fine and everything, but he's the Doctor. No offense. Being almost the Doctor is pretty damn impressive."

The Ganger shrugged. "Being almost the Doctor's like being no Doctor at all."

"Don't overreact."

"You might as well call me…Smith."

"Smith?"

"John Smith."

"Yes!" the Doctor cheered, having run off and left Adelaide to observe the conversation between Amy and the Ganger. "Communication a go-go!"

The entire group rushed to him. "Find Rory!" Amy said as the Doctor brought everything online. "Show me the scanning tracking screen. Come on, Rory, let's be having you."

Cleaves pulled up a screen of her own, shaking her head. "There's no sign of him anywhere."

"Come on. Come on, baby, show yourself."

Cleaves managed to get the radio transmitter working. "St. John's calling. Emergency Alpha. St. John's calling the mainland. Are you receiving me, Captain? Come in." She shook her head. "We'll never get a signal through this storm. St. John's calling the mainland. Come in, this is urgent."

"We're just about reading you, St. John's," a man said from the other end. "How are you doing? We've had all kinds of trouble here."

"Request immediate evacuation. We're under attack. The storm's affected our Gangers. They're running amok."

"Your Gangers?"

"Yes, our Gangers are attacking us. We need you to take us off the island immediately and wipe them out."

"Copy that, St. John's. Shuttle's dispatched. Hang on."

"You'll need to airlift us off the roof of the evac tower. And Captain, any further transmission sent by me must come with the following codeword. I'm typing it, in case they're listening in."

"Got it. We'll swing in, get you out, and decommission the Flesh."

Cleaves nodded, ended the call, and then got the entire crew working on preparing for the evacuation. The Doctor and Adelaide stood together, talking quietly, while the Ganger stood a bit closer to Amy.

"We've got to get out of here," Buzzer said. "We are, we're going to get out."

Amy shook her head. "We're not leaving without them."

"I want them found too, but it's about casualties, innit? Can't be helped?"

Amy glanced back at the Doctor and Adelaide, who were working on Adelaide's phone. "What are you doing?"

"Making a phone call," Adelaide said, quite simply.

"Who to?"

"No one yet. It's on a delay."

"Right." Amy shook her head. "Not getting it. Why exactly are you making a phone call?"

The Doctor grinned. "Because, Amy, I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams. The wheels are in motion. Done."

Amy glanced over to where the Ganger had gone. "You know really there can be only one."

"Hmm?"

She waved a hand. "Oh, nothing. Carry on. Be amazing." She walked off, leaving the Time Lords to watch her as she stared at something in the corner, then jumped with a gasp.

"Amy?" Adelaide called. "What happened?"

Amy hurried back to them. "It's her again."

Adelaide frowned. "Who again?"

"There's a woman I keep seeing. A woman with an eyepatch and she has this habit of sliding walls open and staring at me. Adelaide?"

She smiled at the human. "It's nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing."

"It's a time memory. Like a mirage." She patted Amy's arm. "Nothing to worry about. Just breathe."

The Ganger frowned, closing his eyes. "It's in my head…" he mumbled, before turning and leaving the room.

"Hey, hold on," Jimmy called after him.

"Don't let him go."

"No, leave it to me." Amy stood and followed the Ganger, moving cautiously, but spotting the Ganger outside and facing a wall. "I'm sorry. What I said about you being almost the Doctor, it's just really hard, because I've been through so much with him…with both of them," she corrected herself. She couldn't have one Time Lord and not the other. Especially after... "I've even seen…I've even seen the moment of…can you die? If you really are the same, then you can die. You can be killed, I mean, it wasn't you, but maybe Adelaide figures out a way…"

The Ganger didn't turn. "Why?"

"Why? Because she invited us to see it. Her death."

He spun, grabbing Amy's shoulders and pushing her against the wall. "Why?"

"You're hurting me."

"It's all the eyes say. Why? I can feel them as they work each day, knowing the time was coming for them to be thrown away again. 'Not again, please.' And then they are destroyed and they feel death, and all they can say is 'why?'" he released Amy and she practically ran back to the evac tower.

|C-S|

The Doctor frowned, glancing over at Adelaide. "Why?" he repeated.

Amy hurried into the room. "Keep him away from me!"

The Ganger came in right after her and walked directly to the Time Lords. "Did you sense it?"

The Doctor nodded. "Briefly. Not as strong as you."

The Ganger, nodding, turned back to Amy. "Amy, I'm sorry."

She took a few steps back. "No, you keep away. We can't trust you."

"It would appear I can connect to the Flesh."

"You are Flesh," Amy corrected.

"I'm beginning to understand what it's been through, what it needs."

"What you want," Amy insisted. "You are it."

The Ganger turned to Adelaide. "It's much more powerful than we thought."

Adelaide looked to Cleaves. "The Flesh can grow, correct?"

Cleaves nodded. "Its cells can divide."

"Well, now it wants to do that at will," the Ganger said. "It wants revenge. It's in pain, angry. It wants revenge."

Amy shook her head. "I was right. You're not the Doctor. You can't ever be. You're just a copy." She looked at Adelaide, almost expecting the woman to scold her, but Adelaide stayed quiet, watching her closely.

Cleaves gestured towards the Ganger. "Doctor, it might be best if you stayed over there for now, hmm?"

The Doctor frowned, standing. "Hold on a minute, hold your horses. I thought we'd explained this. I'm him, he's me."

"Doctor, we have no issue with you, but when it comes to your Ganger…" Cleaves shrugged.

"Don't be so absurd."

"Buzzer."

"Sure, boss." Buzzer pulled over an empty oil drum. "Take a seat, mate."

The Ganger didn't complain. "Nice barrel, very comfy."

Adelaide looked towards Amy, no emotion on her face, which wasn't something Amy had seen in a while. "Is this really what you want?" Amy crossed her arms, said nothing, and Adelaide did the same.

|C-S|

The radio buzzed. "This is the shuttle. We're right above you, but we can't get low enough. Gamma static could fry our nav-controls. Sit tight. We'll get to you. Just…"

As Jimmy made his way to the comm, Adelaide quickly scanned Cleaves with her sonic, showing the Doctor the results. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

Amy shook her head, sighing, as she stood before a monitor. "I can't find Rory. I'm going out there."

"We could use the sonic to track him," the Doctor called. "Humans and Gangers give off slightly different signals. The sonic can tell the difference."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so the sonic knows Gangers are different. The other Doctor is different."

"He is the Doctor."

"Not to me. I can tell."

Adelaide looked at her. "Certain you're not prejudiced?"

"Nice try, but I know, okay? We've been through too much." She looked to the Doctor. "You're my Doctor. End of."

"Hey, there's a camera up," Buzzer called. "We've got a visual."

Amy hurried over, grinning. "That's Rory and Jennifer."

"They're heading for the thermostatic room."

She nodded. "Let's go get them." The Doctor tossed his sonic to the Ganger. "Hang on."

Cleaves shook her head. "We can't let him go. Are you crazy?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Am I crazy, Doctor?"

"Well, you did want to plumb your brain into the core of an entire planet just to half its orbit and win a bet…"

"He can't go rescue them." Amy crossed her arms. "I'm going."

"Do you know," the Doctor said, looking around at them all, "I want him to go. And I'm rather adamant." He looked to Adelaide. "What do you think?"

"For once, Doctor, I agree with you."

Buzzer sighed. "Well then, he'll need company. Right, boss? It's fine. I'll handle it.'

The Ganger nodded. "Thank you, Buzzer." He turned to Amy. "It'll be alright. I'll find him." He left with Buzzer.

"We can't explain it to you now," the Doctor told Amy, "but we need you to trust him. Can you do that for me, Amy?"

"And what if you're wrong?"

He grinned. "Adelaide agrees, and she's never wrong. If you won't trust me, trust her."

 **A/N: This chapter did get me thinking about what Adelaide would have been like with a Ganger. Might write a one-shot exploring it, if anyone's interested ;)**

 **So sorry there was no chapter in the middle of this week; my Wednesday was filled with attempting to log into my university's Unix system for a computer science class, so I completely forgot to post anything.**

 **I hope you'll all indulge me and go check out my newly reposted story the Bloodline Chronicles, a Harry Potter fanfiction. The concept for this story has been bouncing around my head for over six years now and it has gone through multiple versions over the years, but I'm finally completely happy with how it's ended up, and I hope you are too.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _StoryGirlWrites: Very soon, actually. Adelaide is still thinking about it quite a lot. That is the big question, even for Adelaide, isn't it? Don't want to spoil anything yet though :)_


	12. Sacrifice

**Sacrifice**

Cleaves frowned at the readings. "These temperature gauges are rising. Jennifer and Rory must have shut off the underground cooling vents."

Dicken shook his head. "Why do that? They'll kill us."

"There's a million gallons of boiling acid under our feet."

The Doctor nodded. "And now it's heating up the whole island. How long till it blows?" There was an explosion and a rumble that shook the entire monastery.

"Gangers or no Gangers, we need to get the hell out of here."

"Shuttle, we need evac. Where are you? Can you hear me? Can you…" she grimaced, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Cleaves?" the Doctor hurried over, Adelaide arriving a few moments after. "Cleaves? Cleaves, sit down."

Cleaves waved them off. "I'm fine. I'm waiting for results, so let it go."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "It's a very deep parietal clot."

"How can you possibly…" Cleaves shook her head. "Inoperable?"

"On Earth, yes."

"Well, seeing as Earth's all that's on offer…hmm. I'm no healthy spring chicken, and you're no weatherman. Right?"

There was another large rumble and Amy looked up. "Something just cracked. I heard it.

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, we can't stay here. Let's go."

"He's right. Let's shift."

Cleaves moved back to the radio. "Cleaves to Shuttle. Respond. We need to move, and we can't be collected from the evac tower."

"Give us the codeword"

"The codeword is…" There was another rumble and the console sparked, sending Cleaves jumping back.

"Cleaves?" the Doctor called when Cleaves attempted to get back. "Cleaves, it's dead. It's dead. We need to get out of here."

"We need to get downstairs and get the vents working again," Adelaide reminded them, the entire group running out of the room. "We need to go!"

|C-S|

They ran through the tunnel, stopping in a second hall when they saw eyes watching them from the wall. "Ah," the Doctor whispered, "the eyes have it."

"Why are they here?"

"To acuse us."

"Ignore them," Cleaves said, continuing to walk. "It's not far." She brought them to the thermostatic chamber, both her and the Doctor hurrying to the controls, Adelaide looking at the readings over their shoulders.

The Doctor shook his head. "It's a chemical chain reaction now. I can't stop it. This place is going to blow sky high."

"Exactly how long have we got?"

He shrugged. "An hour? Five seconds? Er…somewhere in between." A klaxon sounded and the machines hissed. "Out!"

They rushed back through the hallways, Amy in the lead, and she nearly ran directly into Rory. "Thank God," Rory said, grabbing Amy. "All right?"

"Oh, Rory." She threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. "Oh, Rory."

"There's a way out. Jennifer found it. A secret tunnel under the crypt."

Cleaves frowned. "From the crypt? It's not on the schematics."

"It runs right out of the monastery. Maybe even under the TARDIS. Follow me." Now Rory led the way, though the Doctor and Adelaide exchanged a curious look before following.

He brought them back to the acid room, and Jimmy shook his head. "We can't leave without Buzzer."

Cleaves nodded. "I'll go back for him."

Rory stepped up closer to the Time Lords. "Er, Doctor, Adelaide, look. I'd better tell you. I haven't been quite straight with you." But before he could say any more, he was pulled backwards and the door was slammed, locking shut.

The Doctor ran to the window, spotting Ganger Jenny standing there. "Rory!" he reached for Adelaide's sonic, but she shook her head; it was deadlocked.

Rory turned to Ganger Jenny, and they could still hear what was being said. "Hang on, Jen. We don't need to lock them up. We should just show them what we've found."

"I don't think so."

"Rory Pond! Roranicus Pondicus!"

Amy came up beside him, banging on the door. "Rory, what the hell are you playing at?"

"They've been throwing away old Flesh and leaving it to rot. Alive! I think the world should see that."

The Doctor shook his head. "Rory, there is no time. The factory's about to explode."

Rory's eyes widened, and he turned back to Ganger Jenny. "Are you sure about this? Because I'm not. Let them out."

"The little girl got strong."

"What?"

"The little girl lost on the moors in her red wellies, looking for a way home? Well, she got strong, Rory. I told you, remember?"

Rory backed away, shaking his head. "But that wasn't…it was the other Jennifer that told me about being a little girl."

"Oh? What other Jennifer?"

"Well, the…the…wait, you tricked me? Let me go, I'm opening the door." He moved to try and open the door, but Ganger Jenny pulled him away. "Let me…" he looked to Amy. "I'm sorry!" Ganger Jenny dragged him away, leaving only Ganger Cleaves looking at them.

"We have to be free."

Cleaves stepped forward. "I'm sorry too, Miranda. Of all the humans in the world, you had to pick the one with the clot." She shrugged. "But hey, them's the breaks. Welcome to the human race." The Ganger eyed her, but walked away.

Adelaide turned and walked closer to the acid vat, only for the Doctor to grab her arm to keep her back. She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Yes? I'm not going to touch it." She held up her sonic and he, still looking uneasy, let her go and scan it. "This is going to overheat," she informed the room, "filling the entire room with acid."

Cleaves looked to her. "And we can't stop it?"

"No."

Dicken, looking uneasy, lowered the lid of the vat onto it. "It'll never hold her."

The Doctor spun to look at him. "If you have a better plan, I'm all ears. In fact, if you have a better plan, I'll take you to a planet where everyone is all ears."

Adelaide didn't even bother telling the Doctor to keep calm.

|C-S|

In the dining hall, Rory tried to convince the Ganger Doctor to stop what was happening. "Doctor, we can't just let them die. Adelaide is in there!"

He looked at his watch. "Ring, ring!"

"Doctor!"

"Ring, ring!" he pushed Rory back again.

The whole building shook again and Rory tried to run past the Ganger, but he pointed at him. "Stay!"

Rory put up his hands. "Okay."

A phone rang and the Ganger Doctor ginned. "Ah, that'll be the phone. Somebody get the phone. Jimmy, get the phone. No? Fine, I'll get the phone. Stay put." He walked over and picked up the phone, sonicing it so that there was a hologram of the young boy on the other end of the line before them.

"Thank you for booking your holo-call with Morpeth Jetsan, bringing the world together," the operator said.

The Ganger waved at the child before them. "Ha! Hello, Adam, I'm the Doctor. Well, other Doctor. Or Smith. It's complicated and boring. Anyway, who cares. It's your birthday!"

"Yay!" Adam cheered.

"Yay! Now, have you been getting up very early and jumping on the bed?"

"Yes, really high."

"I expect chocolate for breakfast. If you don't feel sick by mid-morning, you're not doing it right, though don't tell Adelaide I said that." He tapped his nose. "Now, I think you want to speak to dad." He looked at Ganger Jimmy.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Daddy?"

"You'll do, Jimmy. What does the other Jimmy matter now? You're both the same dad, aren't you?" he jerked his head back at the hologram. "Come on, Adam's waiting."

"Daddy?" Adam asked, the room shaking again. "Daddy, what's that rumbly noise? What's going on, Daddy? Daddy?"

But Ganger Jimmy turned and ran from the room.

"You've tricked him into an act of weakness, Doctor," Ganger Jenny glared at him.

"No, I've helped him into an act of humanity. Anyone else like the sound of that? Act of humanity."

"Dicken, drain the acid well in Crypt One," Ganger Cleaves ordered, and Ganger Dicken left as well.

"Don't you dare!"

Ganger Cleaves turned to Ganger Jenny. "I've had it with this. What's the point in this ridiculous war? Look at you, Jen. You were a sweet kid. Look at you now. The stuff of nightmares. I don't want my world populated by monsters."

"You can't stop the factory from melting down, boss. I'll take revenge on humanity with or without you."

"It doesn't have to be about revenge," the Ganger Doctor told her. "It can be so much better than that."

Ganger Jenny glared and ran from the room.

|C-S|

Jimmy attempted to keep the lid on the boiling vat of acid, with Dicken attempting to help him from behind, but they could only do so much. The doors had just opened when some acid splashed out and hit Jimmy directly in the chest. He fell back as his Ganger ran in. "Let me through!"

Adelaide shook her head, scanning him with her sonic. "The acid has reached his heart, there's nothing we can do."

"Hang in there, mate."

Jimmy chuckled. "I'm quite handsome from this angle."

"I'm sorry. I'm the fake. Adam deserves his real dad."

"Shut up."

"What do you want me to do? Anything, just say."

"The way things are, mate, it's up to you now." Jimmy pulled a cord from his neck and pressed it to his Ganger's hand. "Be a dad. You remember how." His head fell as he died, and his Ganger looked down at the wedding ring in his hand.

"Jimmy Wicks," the Doctor said quietly, "you're a dad."

|C-S|

The Ganger Doctor, Ganger Cleaves, and Rory stood waiting in the dining hall with Adam still there behind them, trying to see if anyone was coming. "Daddy? Where's my daddy?"

Ganger Jimmy led the rest of them in, letting Rory go straight to Amy and Ganger Cleaves to herself. "Daddy, it's me!" Adam cried, spotting his father.

Ganger Jimmy laughed. "Hey, sunshine. What are you up to?"

"Opening my presents."

"Ha ha, good lad. You have fun today. And remember your dad, he loves you very, ver much."

"When are you coming home?"

The Doctor wrapped his arm around Ganger Jimmy's shoulder. "Daddy's coming home today, Adam."

"Yay!"

"We need to move," Adelaide reminded them.

|C-S|

The Doctor brought them through a tunnel, though he stopped quickly when they found a Flesh form of Ganger Jenny, turning her into some sort of creature. "Run!" he ushered them backwards. "Run. Run!" Ganger Jenny chased them until they managed to make it to a room, Dicken and his Ganger working together to close the door.

"We have to stop her. This door doesn't lock," Ganger Dicken said.

"No, but the far one does!" Dicken turned and hurried down the hallway to the far door, but it was jammed. Ganger Jenny came close as he managed to pull the handle off, but he managed to get the door closed, even if he couldn't lock it.

"No!" Ganger Dicken shouted, hearing himself scream, but shut the door, Ganger Cleaves and the Doctor coming to help him.

"Here she comes!" the Ganger Doctor cheered as the TARDIS fell straight through the roof.

The Doctor laughed. "Oh, she does like to make an entrance."

Ganger Doctor opened the door. "Everyone move. Go, go, go, go!" Ganger Dicken ran into the TARDIS.

"Get on board." Ganger Cleaves turned to her human self. "Go."

Cleaves shook her head. "I'm not leaving."

"Go!" Cleaves ran to the TARDIS.

Amy turned to the doctor. "Now's our chance."

He shook his head. "I have to stay. Hold this door closed. Give you time to dematerialize."

Amy scoffed. "Oh, don't be crazy. Okay, what happens to you?"

"Well, this place is just about to explode. But I can stop her."

Amy looked back towards the Ganger Doctor, who was standing with Adelaide. "Both of you can survive this, okay? There has to be a way."

"Or perhaps you think I should stay instead?" the Ganger Doctor said. "Mr. Smith."

"No, of course not. But look, this man," she pointed at the Doctor, "I've flown with him, you know? And you are amazing and, yeah, I misjudged you, but you're not him. I'm sorry."

"Amy," Adelaide said carefully, "they swapped shoes."

"I'm the Doctor," the one standing next to Adelaide nodded.

"And I'm the Flesh."

Amy's eyes widened, looking at what she'd thought was the real Doctor. "You can't be…you're the real him."

But the Doctor who was actually the Ganger shook his head. "No, I'm not, and I haven't been all along."

"What?"

"They needed to know if they were truly the same," Adelaide explained. "Honestly, I'm quite impressed with their technique. They came up with the idea themselves." The Doctor grinned at her. "It was extremely important that we understand the Flesh, and we needed to do that through your eyes."

Amy hugged the Ganger Doctor tightly. "I never thought it possible."

"What?"

"You're twice the man I thought you were."

"Push, Amy," he whispered. "But only when she tells you to."

"Amy, come on!" Rory called, running towards the TARDIS, and Amy joined him.

The Ganger looked towards the other two Time Lords. "Well, my death arrives, I suppose."

The Doctor cringed, forcing himself not to look towards Adelaide, but reaching for her hand none the less. "Your molecular memory can survive this, you know. It may not be the end." He tossed him the sonic.

"Yeah, well, if I turn up to nick all your biscuits, then you'll know you were right, won't you." The Ganger looked to Adelaide. "Thank you, for everything."

"Doctor! No, please!"

"You too, Cleaves. Off you pop." The Ganger turned to Ganger Cleaves, nodding towards the TARDIS.

Ganger Cleaves shook her head. "I'm staying."

"This is not the time for grand gestures."

She scoffed. "Says the king of grand gestures. This is my factory. I'm not going anywhere."

"Foreman Miranda Cleaves, marvelous. Beware of imitations."

"Clear off out of here, the lot of you!"

The Time Lords, giving the Ganger Doctor a final nod, turned and ran into the TARDIS, sending it away a few moments later.

|C-S|

The Doctor leaned against the console, thinking, as Adelaide fiddled with a few things before turning to look at the Gangers. "The energy from the TARDIS stabilized you. You're people now, for good."

"And what happens to me?" Cleaves gestured to her head. "I still have this."

The Doctor straightened and forced a smile. "Ah, that's not a problem. I have something for that. It's small and red and tastes like burnt onions." He pulled a vial from under the console. "But it'll get rid of your blood clot." He tossed it to Cleaves and then, somehow, pulled a red balloon from practically thin air, and handed it to Jimmy. "Happy endings."

|C-S|

Once they'd left Jimmy with his son, they brought the TARDIS to Morpeth-Jetsan. The entire group walked through the lobby of the building together, though Rory and Amy were behind the group of four.

"You really want us to do this?" Cleaves looked towards the room where the press conference was.

"Your company's telling the world that the situation is over," the Doctor said. "You need to get in there and tell them that the situation's only just begun. Make them understand what they're doing to the Flesh. Make them stop." He turned to Dicken. "Dicken, remember, people are good. In their bones, truly good. Don't hate them, will you?"

Dicken shrugged, laughing. "How can I hate them? I'm one of them now."

"Remember that people died," Adelaide said. "Make whatever you say in that room mean something."

Cleaves looked to Dicken. "Ready? Side by side."

Dicken nodded. "You got it, boss." They stepped forward and stepped into the conference room, the group of time travelers just able to hear a few of the reporters before the door shut.

Amy frowned as she looked at the Time Lords. "You okay?"

The Doctor looked at her. "We said breathe, Pond. Remember? Well, breathe."

"Why?"

"Breathe."

All of a sudden, Amy doubled over with a gasp, clutching her stomach. "Oh!"

Rory rushed to her side. "What's wrong with her?"

"Get her into the TARDIS." The Time Lords led the way back in, standing at the console by the time the humans entered.

"What is happening to her?"

Adelaide clasped her hands behind her back, the Doctor's new sonic already in hand. "Contractions."

Rory's eyes widened. "Contractions?"

She nodded. "She's going into labor."

"Did she say…" Amy shook her head. "No, no, no. Of she didn't. Rory, I don't like this. Ow!" she clutched her stomach again.

"You're going to have to start explaining some of this to me…"

The Doctor frowned. "What, the birds and the bees? She's having a baby."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at him. "We needed to see the Flesh in the early days, that's why the Doctor scanned it. It's why we were there in the first place."

"We were going to drop you off for fish and chips first, but things happened and there was stuff and shenanigans…beautiful word, shenanigans."

"It hurts," Amy winced.

"But you're okay?"

"Breathe," the Doctor told her again. "We needed enough information to block the signal to the Flesh."

"What signal?"

Adelaide nodded at her. "The signal to you."

"Adelaide?"

"Stand away from her, Rory."

Rory shook his head. "Why? No. And why?"

"Given what we've learned, I'll be as humane as I can, but I need to do this and you need to stand away!" Rory stepped back when the Doctor shouted, expecting Adelaide to rest a hand on the Time Lord's shoulder to calm him, but she didn't.

Amy reached for him. "No. No, Doctor, I am frightened." There were tears in her eyes now. "I am properly, properly scared."

"Don't be. Hold on. We've coming for you, we swear it."

Adelaide nodded. "Whatever happens, however far, we will find you Amy, I promise."

"I'm right here!"

"No, you're not. You haven't been here for a long, long time." The Doctor aimed his sonic at Amy, and Amy's eyes widened as she realized what they were doing.

"Oh, no…"

And she turned into melted Flesh.

 **A/N: I mean, we all knew this was coming, but this scene always frightens me just a bit.**

 **Next...demons run when a good man goes to war, but what about Adelaide?**


	13. Whispers

**Whispers**

The Doctor was pretty sure that thinking about Adelaide at the moment, while he was running from Cybers, was not the best idea, but there was the threat of death and they were trying to save Amy and he could only think about what Amy had said.

About the fact Amy had said that Adelaide was going to die. That she was going to invite everyone to witness her death.

He wasn't going to let that happen. He'd decided that the moment he'd heard, even if he hadn't actually told Adelaide about what he'd decided, or even what he'd heard. But he didn't care because she wasn't going to die.

He wasn't going to let her.

Which was why he'd left her in the TARDIS at the moment. He knew that this couldn't be the death, that this wouldn't be the moment, but he also didn't want to see her in danger. Honestly, he never had, even when they'd just been practical strangers, but now that he knew that she was going to die…and die, not regenerate, because Amy would have said.

He was surprised that Adelaide had agreed to be the one who stayed in the TARDIS, but it appeared that she had some sort of logical reason for doing so that she just hadn't bothered to share with him.

Now, he ran back into the TARDIS, thankful to see Adelaide still there even if she didn't look at him. That time, he had to stop himself from thinking what he instantly thought.

Because he'd just thought she looked beautiful and he couldn't bear to think of that right now.

"He's about to do his speech," Adelaide called to him, watching Rory as he made his way through the Cybership. "Let's see if he took your advice."

The Doctor hurried to stand next to her, watching as she put her hand on the lever. "Are you ready?" She looked at him and he was shocked with how little emotion there was. Was this what she was like during the war, when she was making that final choice? Was this what he'd looked like then?

"I have a message and a question," Rory said, though neither Time Lord looked to the monitor, simply staring at each other, because he'd thought she was beautiful and now he didn't know. "A message from the Doctor and Adelaide, and a question from me. Where. Is. My. Wife? Oh," he scoffed, "don't give me those blank looks. The Twelfth Cyber Legion monitors this entire quadrant. You hear everything. So you tell me what I need to know. You tell me now, and I'll be on my way."

"What is the Doctor and Adelaide's message?"

Adelaide didn't look at the monitor as she pulled the lever, making the ships outside the one Rory was in explode.

"Would you like me to repeat the question?" Rory asked the Cybermen, and Adelaide finally looked away.

|C-S|

One fat and one thin man walked across the hanger of the base just as a ship arrived. "A whole CyberLegion though," the fat one said, eyes wide. "They just blew them all up to make a point!"

"We're being paid to fight them, not praise them," the thin one reminded him. "Praising costs way more."

The two stepped into a lift, passing a few Headless Monks on the way. "Level Minus 23. Transept." A few seconds later, they stepped out at Level 23. "Digger says he once chased the Atraxi off a planet, then called them back for a scolding! And that she once broke about ten of Shadow Proclamation laws, but still got away scot free because she told someone off for insulting the Shadow Architect!"

The thin one sighed. "Fight them, not praise them."

They walked past a young woman sewing, smiling to herself.

"Reminder," an announcement said. "This base is on Yellow Alert. This base is on Yellow Alert." The pair continued, after a slight pause to do their actual job of the day, until they were standing in a corridor and looking at a machine. "Reminder. Do not interact with Headless Monks without divine permission. Do not interact with Headless Monks without divine permission."

The thin one leaned to watch as Headless Monks walked past. "You're not supposed to stare at them," the fat one reminded them. "And if they think you're trying to see under their hoods, they'll kill you on the spot."

"But why are they called the Headless Monks? They can't really be headless?"

"They believe the domain of faith is the heart and the domain of doubt in the head," the young woman they'd passed earlier said. "They follow their hearts, that's all."

The thin one looked at her. "You're Lorna Bucket, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Hello," the thin one waved. "I'm the Thin One. This is my husband. He's the Fat One."

Lorna frowned. "Don't you have names?"

The Fat One shrugged. "We're the thin, fat, gay, married, Anglican marines. Why would we need names as well?" he spotted some Monks standing behind Lorna. "Oh! Looks like I'm off. Time for my conversion tutorial. See you in a bit." He walked off with the Monks. "Do you lot have Lent? Because I'm not good at giving things up."

The Thin One turned to Lorna as she shook her head. "Lorna Bucket. You've had an Encounter, haven't you? You've met them."

Lorna smiled. "I was just a kid."

"But what're they like? Adelaide and the Doctor."

"He said 'run'."

"Just run?"

She nodded. "He said it a lot. And when he claimed I was too slow, she scolded him for being rude to a child."

"And this was in the Gamma Forests, yeah? Because you're a Gamma girl, aren't you? What are you doing here? The Forests are heaven-neutral."

"Yeah, and thirty seconds of Adelaide and the Doctor is the only thing that ever happened there."

The Thin One nodded, sliding the panel closed with a hiss. "So, what do you think? If they're really coming here, where are they?"

"He's the Doctor, she's Adelaide. They could be anywhere in time and space."

|C-S|

"Sorry about barging in like this," Adelaide called as Vastra stepped into the TARDIS with a human by her side, the human carrying quite a few large bags. "I couldn't convince him otherwise."

"How else would you have done it?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Knocked?"

Vastra shook her head at the pair of them. "A pleasure to see you again, old friends."

The human waved. "Hello, I'm Jenny. Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you, Jenny," Adelaide said before the Doctor could. "I trust Vastra has explained the TARDIS to you?" Jenny nodded. "Then off to Strax."

The Doctor gave a small cheer at that news.

|C-S|

River swayed as she walked towards the ringing phone in the Stormcage while alarms blared around her, but she didn't seem overly bothered by the alarms. "Oh, turn it off." She picked up the phone. "I'm breaking in, not out. This is River Song, back in her cell. Oh, and I'll take breakfast at the usual time. Thank you." She hung up the phone and continued, only to stop when she saw the silhouette of someone dressed as a Roman. "Oh, are you boys dressing up as Romans now? I thought nobody read my memos."

Rory stepped into the light. "Dr. Song. It's Rory. Sorry, have we met yet?" he shook his head. "Time streams. I'm not quite sure where we are…"

River took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes, we've met. Hello, Rory."

He frowned at her. "What's wrong?"

"It's my birthday." She gestured at the dress. "The Doctor and Adelaide took me ice skating on the River Thames in 1814, the last of the great Frost Fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing for me under London Bridge."

"Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"

River grinned. "Yes, he did. But you must never tell him."

"I've come from the Doctor and Adelaide too."

"Yes, but at a different point in time."

"Unless there's two of them."

River laughed. "Now, that's a whole different birthday." She walked towards her cell, pulling out her diary as she went.

"They need you."

She shut the diary, looking up. "Demon's Run."

Rory frowned. "How…how did you know?"

"I'm from their future. I always know. Why on Earth are you wearing that?"

"The Doctor's idea."

"Adelaide let him?"

"She found it funny."

"Of course. His rules of engagement. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

"Looks ridiculous."

River smirked. "Have you considered heels?"

"They've taken Amy. And our baby." Rory took a deep breath. "The Doctor and Adelaide are getting some people together. We're going after her, but they need you too."

"I can't." River shook her head. "Not yet, anyway."

"I'm sorry?"

"This is the Battle of Demons Run. The Doctor's darkest hour…and Adelaide's too. They'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, and I can't be with them till the very end."

"Why not?"

"Because this is it." River stepped into her cell. "This is the day they find out who I am."

|C-S|

A woman with an eye patch sat across from a large blue skinned man, Dorium Maldovar. "What have you heard?" she asked him.

"That you pricked the side of two mighty beasts, Madame Kovarian, and entirely failed to run." Dorium glanced at the various weapons pointed at him. "I admire your courage. I should like to admire it from afar." He pushed the weapons away.

"We've been waiting a month. They've done nothing."

"Do you really think so?" Dorium counted his money as he spoke. "There are people all over this galaxy that owe those two a debt, and she's been collecting them for quite a while. By now, a few of them will have found a blue box waiting for them on their doorstep, poor devils."

"You think they're raising an army?" the man with Kovarian asked.

"You think they aren't? If they're finally collecting on their debts - especially her - God help you, and god help their debtors."

"Why?"

Dorium turned to the man. "Colonel Manton, all those stories you've heard about them, they're not stories, they're true. Really. You're not telling me you don't know what's coming?"

Manton shook his head. "We're wasting our time here."

Kovarian stood. "Agreed."

"The asteroid where you've made your base," Dorium said, making them pause. "Do you know why they call it Demon's Run?"

"How do you know the location of our base?"

He sighed. "You're with the Headless Monks. They're old customers of mine."

"It's just some old saying."

"A very old saying. The oldest. 'Demons run when a good man goes to war'."

|C-S|

Manton stood before the soldiers, three Headless Monks behind them, with Kovarian by his side. "He is not the devil. She is not a god. They are not goblins, or phantoms, or tricksters. The Doctor and Adelaide are living, breathing men and women, and as I look around this room I know one thing…we're sure as hell going to fix that."

|C-S|

Amy stood above the speech in the white nursery she'd been confined in since she'd lost her daughter. Lorna entered the room, cautious. "Sorry," she called, making Amy look at her. "I shouldn't be here. I'm meant to be at the thing. I brought you something. Your child's name in the language of my people." She held out a small green cloth. "It's a prayer leaf and we believe, if you keep this with you, your child will always come home to you."

"Can I borrow your gun?"

"Why?"

"Because I've got a feeling you're going to keep talking." Amy turned back to look at the window. "They're talking like they're famous. The Doctor and Adelaide aren't famous."

Lorna shrugged. "They meet a lot of people. Some of them…remember. They're sort of like a…I don't know, a dark legend."

Amy scoffed. "Dark? Have you met them?"

Lorna nodded. "Yeah. But I was just a little girl."

"So was I."

"You've been with them a long time, then."

"No. They came back for me."

"You must be very special."

Amy shrugged. "Hey. You can wait a long time for the Doctor and Adelaide, but they're worth it, okay?" she turned to Lorna. "The thing is, they're coming. No question about it. Just you make sure you're on the right side when they get here. Not for my sake, for yours." She took the leaf when Lorna held it out. "Thank you."

|C-S|

"On this day, in this place, the Doctor and Adelaide will fall," Manton continued. "The man who talks, the woman who reasons, the man who lies, the woman who hides, will meet the perfect answer. Some of you have wondered why we have allied ourselves with the Headless Monks. Perhaps you should have wondered why we call them headless. It's time you knew what these guys have sacrificed for faith. As you all know, it is a Level One Heresy, punishable by death, to lower the hood of a Headless Monk. But by the divine grant of the Papal Mainframe herself, on this one and only occasion, I can show you the truth. Because these guys can never be persuaded." He lowered the first Monk's hood, revealing a stump instead of a head and neck. "They can never be afraid." He lowered the second. "And they can never, ever be…"

But the third monk threw back their hood themselves, revealing the Doctor, grinning. "Surprised! Hello, everyone! Guess who!" he walked to the front of the stage. "Please, point a gun at me if it helps you relax." Every single soldier did just that. "You're only human."

Manton stepped forward, aiming his own gun at the Doctor's head. "Doctor, you will come with me right now."

"Three minutes, forty seconds. Amelia Pond! Get your coat!" he pulled his hood back down as the lights went out.

When they came back, he was gone.

"We are not phantoms," the Doctor said, his voice over the speaker now.

"Doctor?"

"We are not tricks."

"Doctor?"

"We're monks."

"Doctor, show yourself!"

"It's him!" a soldier aimed his gun at one of the Monks. "He's here!" the other soldiers began to do the same, making the Monks charge their swords. "It's him!" he shot at one of the Monks."

"Weapons down! Do not fire!" one of the Monks fired a bolt of energy at the first soldier who'd fired. "No!" the Monks and soldiers began to fight. "Doctor! Doctor! Do not fire. Nobody discharge their weapon in this room. Nobody! Do not fire! Stop, wait! Listen to me! I'm discharging my weapon pack." Manton pulled the pack from his gun. "Monks, I do this in good faith. I am now unarmed." He placed it on the floor. "All of you, discharge your weapon packs. The Doctor is trying to make fools of us. We are soldiers of God. We are not fools! We are not fools!"

The soldiers took up his chant, removing their packs, and it continued until every single one of them had placed their packs on the floor. "We are not fools!"

The sound of teleports echoed throughout the base, and immediately the soldiers were surrounded by an army of Silurians and Judoon, with Strax appearing right next to Manton. "This base is now under our command."

"I have a fleet out there! If Demons Run goes down, there's an automatic distress call."

"Not if we knock out your communications array," the Doctor said over the speaker again. "And you've got incoming!"

"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Danny Boy to the Doctor!"

"Give 'em hell, Danny Boy!"

A few moments later, they heard the result of, "target destroyed!"

"Don't slump," Strax told Manton. "It's bad for your spine."

|C-S|

Adelaide didn't like this.

She didn't like any part of this.

Because this…this was the Time War all over again.

This was what the Time Lords had wanted her to do, what she'd refused to do, what she'd turned herself human to avoid doing.

Collecting on debts. Using innocents to fight their war for them.

But that's what they were doing.

And she hated it.

When the Time Lords had asked her for this, when they'd ordered her to do this, Adelaide had been willing to sacrifice her entire planet in order to refuse them. She'd run away with the Master in a broken down TARDIS and hid as a human, knowing that she was abandoning her people, knowing she was leaving them to death.

Because the thought of going to people she'd helped, even if she'd done so accidently, and asking them to fight a war they were never a part of was something she couldn't do.

But that was exactly what they were doing.

Adelaide felt like her hearts were going to break, like every single ounce of her being was fighting what was happening. Because she knew this wasn't right. She knew she didn't want to do this.

She'd refused to save her entire people and here she was, doing what she hated to save a single human.

Of course, she'd rather hated her people by that point. She'd never really liked them, but then they'd shot her down and forced her to stay on the surface of the planet. It hadn't been that hard, in the moment, to leave them all to die.

And this was a human she'd come to like.

Adelaide didn't quite know how the Doctor had been able to convince her to do this. He'd gone off without discussing it with her and only stopped when she forced him to by shouting at him. Then, somehow, he'd convinced her that this was the right thing to do.

But Adelaide hated it.

That was reassuring. After all her confusion over how much of her was human and how much was truly Time Lady, it was wonderful to know that she still thought the same about this concept.

Now, she stood with crossed arms leaning against the control panel, keeping her face as emotionless as she could. Even if the Doctor had convinced her to do this, that didn't mean she liked it. That didn't mean she didn't question everything she'd ever thought about the Doctor.

She was almost thankful that they'd already separated themselves from what Idris had told them because it made it far easier for her to remain impartial as she thought about him.

Or so she liked to tell herself.

Strax escorted Manton into the room by gunpoint. "All airlocks sealed," Strax reported. "Resistance neutralized."

The Doctor, who was sitting at the control panel, shrugged. "Sorry, Colonel Manton. I lied. Three minutes, forty-two seconds."

"Colonel Manton, you will give the order for your men to withdraw."

The Doctor stood. "No. Colonel Manton, I want you to tell your men to run away."

Manton frowned. "You what?"

"Those words. Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run Away. I want children laughing outside your door, because they've found the house of Colonel Run Away. And, when people come to you, and ask if trying to get to us through the people we love is in any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name."

"Doctor," Adelaide said, quite sharply.

It made him take a deep breath. "Oh, look, I'm angry. That's new. I'm really not sure what's going to happen now."

"The anger of a good man is not a problem," Kovarian said as she entered, escorted by guards. "Good men have too many rules."

The Doctor turned to Kovarian. "Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."

Kovarian glared. "Give the order." The Doctor's eyes widened. "Give the order, Colonel Run Away."

 **A/N: Sometimes, my unconscious is my best friend. I had honestly forgotten about this episode when I was planning what had happened to Adelaide during the war, and when I got here...it fit so perfectly into my plan that I felt like a genius.**

 **I wonder what sort of legacy Adelaide's left behind. And how she'll feel on the matter...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _StoryGirlWrites: Don't worry, I did honestly feel the same about the episode. It's an awkward episode in general to write out, and I probably didn't try my hardest to make it smooth. When I have time I might go back and rewrite it :)_


	14. Confessions

**Confessions**

Rory knocked on the door of the nursery Amy was being kept in, the Doctor and Adelaide standing behind him.

"Who's that?" they heard Amy call through the door. "Who's there? You watch it, because I'm armed and really dangerous, and cross!"

"Yeah," Rory scoffed, "like I don't know that."

"Rory? Rory, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Look, hang on a minute." He took Adelaide's sonic when she passed it to him, using it on the door.

"They took her. Rory, they took our baby away."

The door finally slid open and Rory, holding their baby daughter in his arms, stepped into the room. "Now, Mrs. Williams, that is never, ever going to happen."

"Oh my God," Amy gasped. "Oh my God. Where's she been? What have they done to her?"

"She's fine. Amy, she's fine, I checked. She's beautiful." Rory started to cry, swallowing hard. "Oh God, I was going to be cool. I wanted to be cool. Look at me."

Amy laughed. "You're okay. Crying Roman with a baby. Definitely cool. Come here, you." She pulled him into a deep kiss as the Time Lords entered the room.

The Doctor grimaced. "Urgh. Kissing and crying. We'll…we'll be back in a bit."

Rory laughed at him. "Get in here, now." The Doctor jogged over, though Adelaide didn't rush. "My daughter. What do you think?"

The Doctor gave the baby a little wave. "Hello. Hello, baby."

"Melody."

"Melody?" the Doctor grinned. "Hello, Melody Pond."

"Melody Williams," Rory corrected.

"…is a geography teacher. Melody Pond is a superhero."

The Doctor nodded. "Well yes, I suppose she does smell nice. Never really sniffed her, maybe I should give it a go. Amelia Pond, come here." He turned and gave Amy quite a big hug.

"Doctor!"

"I'm sorry we were so long."

"It's okay. I knew you were coming." Amy turned to Adelaide, hugging her too. "All of you. My boys and my girl."

Adelaide looked towards Melody as she stepped away. "Don't worry, dear, she's still yours. Though I would recommend calling her 'Mummy' instead of 'Big Milk Thing'."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Okay, what are you doing?"

"We speak Baby."

"No, you don't."

He shrugged. "We speak everything, don't we, Melody Pond?" Melody gurgled, and he straightened his bowtie. "No, it's not. It's cool."

Vastra entered the room. "Doctor? Adelaide? Take a look. They're leaving!" the Time Lords moved towards the window, watching the soldiers march away. "Demons Run is ours without a drop of blood spilled. My friends, you have never risen higher!"

Adelaide glanced at the Doctor, studying his pleased expression. It seemed like it had worked, and perhaps she was just too determined to not agree that his plan had worked, but she didn't think it was over, not yet.

|C-S|

Amy hurried out of the TARDIS, comforting her daughter as she went. Rory rushed over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"She doesn't like the TARDIS noise. I asked him to turn something off, but it was all 'but I don't want to punch a hole in the space-time continuum'."

"Rory!" Jenny said, walking over with Strax. "The Judoon have escorted the Clerics out of the quadrant. Spitfires have returned to their own time. Captain Avery and his men are going." She looked to the baby. "Is she all right?"

"Yeah, she's just crying."

Strax sighed. "Give her to me, human fool. She needs changing."

"I just changed her. I think she might need a feed."

"A feed, of course. I'll take care of everything."

Rory stuck out an arm to keep Strax away. "Er, I really don't think you will, actually."

"I have gene-spliced myself for all nursing duties. I can produce magnificent quantities of lactic fluid."

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS holding a very old wooden cot. "She's not hungry, she's tired. Sorry, Melody, they're just not listening."

Adelaide came out of the TARDIS after him. "They don't speak Baby, Doctor, there's no way they could have known."

"What's this?" Amy asked the Doctor as he set down the cot.

"Very pretty, according to your daughter."

"It's a…it's a cot."

"No flies on the Roman. Give her here."

"Doctor!"

The Doctor winced. "Please?"

Amy chuckled, gently handing the baby over. "Hey, there we go."

"But where would you get a cot?"

Amy touched the side of the cot. "It's old. Really old." She looked up at the Time Lords. "Doctor, Adelaide…do you have children?"

"No."

"Have you ever had children?"

The Doctor looked down at Melody. "No, it's real. It's my hair."

"Who slept in here?"

"Doctor, Adelaide, we need you in the main control room," Vastra called over the comm.

"Be right there!" he spun to the humans. "Things to do. We've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave till we know."

"But this is where I was?" Amy asked, stopping them before they could start leaving. "The whole time I thought I was on the TARDIS, I was really here?"

The Doctor glanced at Rory. "Centurian, permission to hug?"

"Be aware, I do have a sword."

He grinned and hugged Amy tightly, speaking too quietly for Adelaide and Rory to hear. After a few moments, when Rory and Adelaide had exchanged an expression, Rory spoke again. "That's probably enough hugging now." The two stepped apart. "So her Flesh avatar was with us all that time. But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the TARDIS wherever we were in time and space."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, they're very clever."

"Who are?"

"Whoever wants our baby."

"But why do they want her?"

"Exactly."

Rory eyed the pair of them. "Is there anything you're not telling us? You both knew Amy wasn't real. You never said."

Adelaide nodded. "There was no way to know if they were listening."

"But you always hold out on us." Amy frowned. "Please, not this time. It's our baby. Tell us something. One little thing."

"It's mine."

"What is?"

"The cot." The Doctor pointed at it. "It's my cot. I slept in there."

Amy looked at the cot with a smile, spotting the little stars now spinning over Melody. "Oh my God. It's the Doctor's first stars."

|C-S|

The Time Lords arrived in the communication room, Dorium sitting at the controls and Vastra standing in the back of the room. "You've hacked into their software, then?" the Doctor asked.

Dorium scoffed. "I believe I sold it to them."

"So what have we learned?"

"That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake." Adelaide smiled at what Vastra said.

The Doctor turned to her with a frown. "I'm sorry?"

Vastra nodded towards Adelaide. "The words of an old friend who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent tunnel diggers."

"You were very cross," Adelaide commented.

"As you both were today, old friends." But she looked more at the Doctor than Adelaide since even she couldn't really read the Time Lady properly. There was barely anyone left in the universe who could, if anyone had ever existed at all. "Point taken, I hope. Now, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?"

The Doctor frowned, but Adelaide's eyes widened. "Sorry, what? Of course she is," he scoffed. "Completely human."

But Adelaide stepped closer to Dorium. "What do you mean?"

"They've been scanning her since she was born," Dorium pulled up a screen for Adelaide to see, "and I think they found what they were looking for."

The Doctor nodded. "Human DNA."

"Look closer. Human plus…"

Adelaide stepped closer, leaning against the controls as she studied the screen. "Human plus Time Lord."

The Doctor shook his head again. "But she's human. She's Amy and Rory's daughter."

"You've told me about your people. They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The Untempered Schism."

"Over billions of years," he reminded Vastra. "It didn't just happen."

Vastra looked to Adelaide. "So how close is she? Could she even regenerate?"

Adelaide frowned. "No, I don't believe so."

"You don't sound so sure."

"Because even I don't understand how this happened. I mean, it's possible, but the Doctor's right…it doesn't just happen."

Vastra stepped forward. "Which leads me to ask…when did it happen?"

"When?"

"I am trying to be delicate…I know how you can blush. When did this baby…begin?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh, you mean…"

Vastra nodded. "Quite."

He shrugged. "Well, how would I know? That's all human-y, private stuff. It just sort of…goes on. They don't put up a balloon or anything."

"But if the child began while the TARDIS was in flight…"

"No, no, impossible!" he shook his head. "It's all running about, sexy fish vampires and blowing up stuff. And Rory wasn't even there at the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then we had to reboot the whole universe…long story. So, technically, the first time they were on the TARDIS together in this version of reality, was on their w-" his eyes widened.

"On their what?"

"On their wedding night." The Doctor frowned. "It doesn't make sense. You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord."

"Of course not. But you gave them one hell of a start, and they've been working very hard ever since."

Dorium frowned. "And yet they gave in so easily. Does this not bother anyone else?"

Adelaide was almost certain that she'd never been less happy about being right.

"Amy…she worried the baby would have a time head. She said that."

Vastra sighed. "Only you would ignore the instincts of a mother."

"Or the instincts of a coward. This is too easy. There's something wrong."

"Why even do it? Even if you could get your hands on a brand new Time Lord, what for?"

"A weapon?"

The Doctor frowned. "Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?" Adelaide raised her eyebrows at him.

Vastra shrugged. "Well, they've seen you two."

"Us?"

"Mr. Maldovar, you're right. This was too easy. We should get back to the others." Vastra and Dorium left the room, leaving the Time Lords.

The Doctor looked to Adelaide. "Us?" She could only nod.

The screen behind them flickered on. "I see you accessed our files. Do you understand yet? Oh, don't worry, I'm a long way away. But I like to keep tabs on you two. The child, then. What do you think?"

"What is she?" Adelaide asked her.

"Hope. Hope in this endless, bitter war."

"What war?" the Doctor asked. "Against who?"

"Against you, Time Lords."

The Doctor shook his head, slamming his hand down. "A child is not a weapon!"

Kovarian smirked. "Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be."

"Except you've already lost her, and I swear we will never let you anywhere near her again."

She laughed, looking to Adelaide. "Oh, Adelaide. Fooling you once was a joy, but fooling you twice the same way?" Adelaide's eyes widened. "It's a privilege."

Adelaide didn't say anything. She just turned and ran.

The Doctor sprinted after her.

|C-S|

"Amy!" the Doctor shouted as they reached the locked door, fumbling for his sonic. "Amy, she's not real! Melody, she's a Flesh avatar. Amy!"

By the time they got through the door, the fight that had been going on was already done. "Amy…"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, we know." He walked over to a dying Strax. Amy was crying into Jenny's arms on a crate to the side.

It was to her that the Time Lords went, kneeling before her. "They took her anyway," Amy sobbed. "All this was for nothing."

"I am…so sorry."

"Amy," Jenny said quietly, "it's not their fault."

Amy, shaking, nodded. "I know. I know." Rory came over, drawing his wife into his arms, and the Time Lords stood.

"Doctor, Adelaide," Vastra called. "There's someone who wants to speak to you." They walked over to where she was standing with a young woman who was leaning against a wall, clutching a wound in her stomach. "Her name is Lorna. She came to warn us."

The Time Lords knelt before Lorna. "Hello," Adelaide said quietly.

Lorna's eyes opened very slowly. "Adelaide. Doctor."

"You helped our friends," the Doctor said, smiling. "Thank you."

"I met you once, in the Gamma Forests. You don't remember me…"

Adelaide took her hand. "Of course we remember, Larna. I make certain he remembers everyone." They hadn't met her yet, and Adelaide knew that. But even she could lie.

"We ran, you, me, and her. Didn't we run, Lorna?" Lorna nodded, her head falling to the side as she died. "Who was she?"

Vastra shook her head. "I don't know, but she was very brave."

He sighed, standing. "They're always brave."

Adelaide didn't stand yet, looking at Lorna, knowing this was the reason she'd refused to do what the Time Lords had asked. This was exactly why. This was what made her blood run cold, had made turning human and hiding worth it.

She stood and didn't look at the Doctor.

"So, what now? They'd almost certainly have taken her to Earth. Raise her in the correct environment."

He nodded. "Yes, they did. And it's already too late."

Vastra's eyes widened. "You're giving up? You never do that."

"Yeah, and don't you sometimes wish I did?"

There was a flash of light and River appeared, looking as she always did. "Well then, soldier. How goes the day?"

The Doctor strode towards her, glaring. "Where the hell have you been? Every time you've asked, we have been there. Where the hell were you today?"

"I couldn't have prevented this."

"You could have tried!" Adelaide walked up, touching the Doctor's shoulder as he shouted.

River just shook her head at them. "And so, my loves, could you." She looked towards Amy and Rory. "I know you're not all right. But hold tight, Amy, because you're going to be."

"You think we wanted this? We didn't do this. This…this wasn't us!"

"This was exactly you. All this. All of it. You both make them so afraid." She looked at Adelaide too and the Time Lady could say nothing against her. "When you both began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did either of you ever think you'd become this? Named after the woman who brought an entire species into the skies, whose legacy reigned with destruction across the universe. Who rules without a heart.

"And the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name. Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means mighty warrior. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child, the child of your best friends, and they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring one of you down, because with one comes the other. And all this, my loves, in fear of you."

The Doctor shook his head. "Who are you?"

River smiled, backing towards the cot. "Oh look, your cot. Haven't seen that in a very long while."

"No, no, you tell me. Tell me who you are."

Adelaide came to the Doctor's side, tracing her hand along the cot. River nodded at her. "Can't you read?" she asked the Doctor.

His eyes widened, and when he looked at Adelaide for confirmation, she let herself smile, just for a moment. He looked towards River. "Hello."

River laughed. "Hello."

"But…but…that means…"

"I'm afraid it does."

"You're…"

River nodded. "Yes."

He straightened his tie. "How do we look?"

"Amazing."

He chuckled. "We'd better be."

"Yes, you'd better be."

The Doctor spun to the rest of them, rubbing his hands together. "Vastra and Jenny, till the next time." He ran over and plucked Adelaide's sonic from Rory's hand, tossing it back to her. "Rory and Amy, I know where to find your daughter, and on my life, she will be safe."

"River," Adelaide moved towards the TARDIS, "get them all home safe."

"Doctor?" Rory frowned at them as the Time Lords moved.

"No! Where are you going?"

The Time Lords raised their sonics and lowered the forcefield that protected the TARDIS, letting them step inside. The Doctor stopped to smile at the companions before they shut the door.

Once they were alone, their smiles fell.

No need to pretend anymore.

"Don't you dare ask me to do that again," Adelaide said, speaking carefully as she walked towards the console, leaning against it.

"I'm sorry." He came up beside her, but nowhere near close enough to touch her. "But…I needed to rescue her."

Adelaide didn't look at him. "She was one human, Doctor. A single, insignificant human." She closed her eyes. "I didn't bother doing that for our people, yet for Amelia Pond…I don't understand why."

"I know I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

"Correct, Doctor." She pushed herself from the console. "You shouldn't have. I never wanted to be a weapon. I never wanted to make someone a weapon." Adelaide finally looked at him. "Never ask me to do that again, Doctor."

He nodded. "I promise." Because he regretted it. Because he had, honestly, forgotten that this was exactly what the Time Lords had asked Adelaide to do.

He knew he was lucky that she hadn't flat out refused. There was no need for her to turn herself human again, but she could have refused. He was lucky she hadn't left him when he'd asked her to do this to save Amy.

"I don't think I will ever be able to forgive you for this, Doctor."

The Doctor gripped the console. If it had been a normal day, a normal argument, he would have stopped and agreed with Adelaide right there because she did tend to be right. But he'd just learned that his companions' child had been taken to be turned into a weapon against the Time Lords. His temper wasn't in the best place, she knew that, she expected that, because neither was her's. "You did agree to it," he said. "You were angry but you agreed to it."

"Yes, I know that."

"It's not only my fault."

"Yes."

"You can't just blame me."

"I don't." Adelaide stepped away from the console. "I blame myself far more than I blame you, Doctor."

He lowered his head, looking down at the console. "They think of us as warriors."

"You are a warrior, but you can use it, you can turn that good."

He scoffed. "Being a warrior that people are scared of is never good."

"Depends on who's scared of you. Personally, I wouldn't mind a woman who's willing to kidnap a child being a bit scared." She leaned back against the console, studying the Doctor. "You're going to stop her, Doctor."

"We're," he corrected. "We're going to stop her." Adelaide didn't say anything. "Did you really pick your name because of Adelaide Brooke?"

She smiled. "I read about her on Gallifrey. Perhaps should have gone for her granddaughter, but Susie was far more adventurer than scientist." She shook her head. "Still pains me that, when I finally met her, it was as a human."

"Your legacy hasn't brought destruction."

Adelaide said nothing again, only looked away from the Doctor and closed her eyes, breathing hard.

 **A/N: A tense conversation between the Time Lords here. Both are extremely conflicted at the moment and still trying to work through some things, so neither really got to say what they wanted. But they're getting there :)**

 **Hey, look at me, posting on Wednesday while in college like I'd planned. Almost seems like I'm on top of my life for once (very not true :) )**


	15. Poisons

**Poisons**

Rory jammed on the brakes at the edge of a crop circle, Amy beside him giving instructions from a design in her hands. The TARDIS sat before them, at the center, with the Doctor standing before it. He wore quite a large green coat which anyone who had known him then would have said would have suited his previous regeneration better. Adelaide, leaning against the TARDIS, looked as she always did, though the Time Lords were still standing quite far apart.

The human companions stepped out of the car and the Doctor held out the newspaper, showing them the image of the word 'DOCTOR' written in a field. "Seriously? I had to stop Adelaide from slapping you for ruining the corn."

Adelaide sighed. "I wasn't going to slap them…"

Rory shrugged. "Well, neither of you answered your phone."

"She dropped her's…"

"You dropped it."

"…into the console."

Amy crossed her arms, hurrying over to them. "Okay, you've had all summer. Have you found her? Have you found Melody?"

"Technically," Adelaide said, "you've had all summer. It could only have been a day for us." Amy raised her eyebrows at Adelaide and the Time Lady shrugged.

"Permission?" the Doctor looked at Rory.

"Granted." He took the newspaper from the Doctor as he hugged Amy.

"You know who she grows up to be, so you know we will find her."

Amy stepped back. "But you haven't yet."

Rory frowned, pointing at something in the newspaper. "Hang on. What's this bit?"

Amy shook her head, spotting the straight line through the middle of the writing. "That wasn't us."

The Doctor snatched the paper back, holding it up and moving it around the circle in an attempt to find where the line would come through. Adelaide just stayed at the TARDIS, watching him as he went, though Amy and Rory gathered around the Doctor once he reached the edge of the circle. They all heard the sound of an engine getting closer and, when the Doctor lowered the paper, they saw a bright red car heading directly towards them.

The trio screamed, making Adelaide sigh, and jumped out of the way as the car burst through the corn and skid to a stop just a few inches from the TARDIS, meaning Adelaide did have to take a step to the side to avoid getting hit. A woman, a bit younger than Amy and Rory, stepped out and eyed the Time Lords.

"You said he was funny," she said, looking at the Doctor. "You never said he was hot." She looked at Adelaide. "But you got her to a tee."

"Mels!" Rory groaned, helping Amy stand.

"What are you doing here?"

Mels shrugged. "Following you. What'd you think?"

"Er…where did you get the car?"

"It's mine…" they could hear sirens in the distance. "Ish."

Amy sighed. "Oh, Mels, not again."

"You can't keep doing this. You're going to end up in prison."

The Doctor stepped forward, cutting in. "Sorry, hello. Doctor not following this. Doctor very lost. You never said I was hot? And what did you say about her?" he pointed towards Adelaide.

Mels, ignoring him, turned to the TARDIS. "Is that the phone box? The bigger on the inside phone box? Oh, time travel." She leaned against the TARDIS next to Adelaide. "That's just brilliant. Yeah, I've heard a lot about you. I'm their best mate."

"Then why have we never met you?" Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "I saw everyone at the wedding."

The Doctor nodded. "The women were all brilliant. The men were a bit shy."

Mels walked away from the TARDIS. "I don't do weddings." The sirens started getting louder. "And that's me, out of time." She spun, pulling out a gun as she went. Since the Doctor was standing away from the TARDIS, he was the one she currently aimed at.

"Mels!"

"For God's sake!"

"What are you doing?"

She shrugged. "I need out of here, now."

Adelaide leaned slightly around the Doctor so that Mels could see her. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Well, let's see…you've got a time machine, I've got a gun." She grinned. "What the hell. Let's kill Hitler."

|C-S|

Quite a long time ago in Leadworth, a young Amelia Pond pulled her Raggedy Doctor and Addy toys from a box. "Is he hot?" Mels asked her.

"No, he's funny."

"Is she hot?"

"She's annoyed, at him."

Mels pulled one of the Doctor dolls out, falling onto the bed. "But how can they travel in time?"

"Because they've got a time machine, stupid."

The door opened and a young Rory Williams ran in. "I thought we were playing hide and seek. I've been hiding for hours."

Amelia shrugged. "Well, we just haven't found you yet."

"Okay." He moved to leave. "Hi, Mels."

"Hi, Rory."

|C-S|

A few years later, a slightly older Mels stood before her teacher, information about the _Titanic_ written on the board. "Mels, did you not understand the question? I am asking you why the _Titanic_ sank?"

"Because the Doctor didn't save it. Except you don't know about the Doctor because you're stupid." Mels crossed her arms.

|C-S|

A different teacher shook his head as he regarded a teenager Mels. "Mels…"

"A significant factor in Hitler's rise to power was the fact that Adelaide didn't stop him." She smirked.

|C-S|

The TARDIS was in haywire. The lights were red, some alarm was blaring, and steam was bursting from the hole that Mels had just shot in the rotor. "You've shot it!" the Doctor shouted. "You shot my TARDIS! You shot the console!"

"It's your fault!"

"How's it my fault?"

"You said guns didn't work in this place. You said we're in a state of temporal grace!"

He rolled his eyes. "That was a clever lie, you idiot! Anyone could tell that was a clever lie."

"We're crashing!" Adelaide called, barely able to pilot the TARDIS on her own. The Doctor spun, trying to help, but they couldn't do much to stop the TARDIS from crashing through a wall. Once it came to a halt, with a loud crash, the Doctor pushed the companions closest to him towards the door.

"Out, out, out! Everybody out!"

"Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!"

The entire group ran from the TARDIS, coming to a stop in whatever room they had landed in. Amy looked around, coughing. "Where are we?"

"A room."

"What room?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I don't know what room. I haven't memorized every room in the universe yet. I had yesterday off."

"Don't go in there," Adelaide said, walking over to Mels and shutting the door to the TARDIS. She also managed to take Mels' gun, making Mels glare at her.

"Bad smoke. Don't breathe the bad, bad smoke. Bad, deadly smoke because somebody shot my TARDIS!" Mels rolled her eyes at the Doctor.

"Doctor," Rory called, and they turned to see he was kneeling by a man who was lying on the floor. "This guy, I think he's hurt. No, hang on." He leaned forward. "He's fine."

Adelaide placed Mels' gun in the fruit bowl on the desk, eyeing the man who was standing up. Given what was on the walls… "Sorry about your wall."

The Doctor walked up behind her, not seeming to have noticed anything yet. "Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, let's say no more about…" the man turned and they found that it was, indeed, Adolf Hitler "…it."

Amy and Rory came up on either side of the Time Lords, their eyes wide. "Is that? No, it can't be…Doctor?"

"Thank you, whoever you are," Hitler said. "I think you have just saved my life."

"…believe me, it was an accident."

Hitler turned to the TARDIS, walking towards it. "What is this thing?"

Amy leaned towards the Time Lords, not wanting the man to hear it. "What did he mean, we saved his life? We could not have just saved Hitler."

Adelaide frowned. "We're only in 1938. He has seven years." She looked to Mels. "Time travel never goes to plan, remember that." Mels rolled her eyes again. "And stop doing that; it's extremely annoying. And not polite."

"This box, what is it?"

"It's a police telephone box from London, England." The Doctor walked forward. "That's right, Adolf. The British are coming."

Hitler's eyes widened, pointing towards the man Rory had gone to earlier. "No, stop him!" He grabbed his gun, shooting the man and giving the Doctor about a second to pull Adelaide out of the way, though he managed.

Rory ran forwards, punching Hitler and grabbing the gun. "Sit still," he aimed the weapon at Hitler, "shut up."

Amy hurried to the man's side. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm fine." The man nodded. "I think he missed." The Time Lords exchanged a look.

"He was going to kill me!"

"Shut up, Hitler!" Rory snapped.

"Put Hitler in that cupboard," Adelaide told Rory without looking at him. "Now."

"Right…putting Hitler in the cupboard." Rory grabbed Hitler and pulled him to the small cupboard. "Cupboard, Hitler. Hitler, cupboard."

"But I am the Fuhrer!"

"Right, in you go!" Rory shoved Hitler in and shut the door.

The Doctor walked over to the other man. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I…" the man fell backward, fainting.

Rory raised his eyebrows. "I think he just fainted."

Adelaide eyed the man. "A perfect faint."

Amy sighed, shaking her head, and saw Mels clutching her side. "Mels?"

"Hitler…"

"What about him?"

"Lousy shot." She collapsed.

"Mels!" Amy ran to her friend. "Mels!"

"Rory!"

Rory pressed on the wound. "No, no, no, no! I've got to stop the bleeding."

"How bad is it? Rory, what can we do?"

"Just keep her conscious. Stay with us, Mels."

The Doctor leaned over. "Hey, look at me. Just hold on."

Mels had a small smile on her face. "I used to dream about you. All those stories Amy used to tell me."

"What stories? Tell us what stories. Vampires in Venice. That's better."

"When I was little…I was going to marry you." She managed to shrug. "Either of you, really, I wasn't picky."

The Doctor laughed. "Good idea. Why don't we get married?" he gestured between himself and Mels, knowing he couldn't speak for Adelaide. "You stay alive and I'll marry you, deal? Deal? Might even be able to convince Adelaide, if you're nice about it."

"Shouldn't you ask my parents' permission?"

He nodded. "As soon as you're well, I'll get on the phone."

"Might as well do it now, since they're both right here." Mels grinned as all of their eyes widened, realization dawning on them and, for once, it was happening for Adelaide the same time it was for everyone else. "Penny in the air." Her hands began to glow. "Penny drops."

The Doctor and Adelaide stood, backing away. "What the hell's going on?" Rory asked, shaking his head.

"Get back!" Adelaide moved forward, pulling Amy and Rory back.

Mels stood up, looking down at her hands. "Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York." She moved back to stand in the middle of the room.

Amy shook her head. "Okay, explain what is happening, please."

"Mels," he breathed. "Short for…"

Mels nodded. "Melody."

"Yeah, I named my daughter after her."

"You named your daughter…after your daughter."

Mels smiled at Amy and Rory. "It took me years to find you two. I'm so glad I did. And you see? It all worked out in the end, didn't it? You got to raise me after all."

"You're Melody?"

"But if she's Melody, that means that she's also…"

"Shut up, Dad. I'm focusing on a dress size." She threw out her arms with a scream, regenerating with such force that all of them had to duck behind the desk, though the Doctor had time for a quick trip to a chair.

River Song, or the woman who would become her, gasped once her appearance settled. "Oh! Whoa! Right, let's see, then…" she looked down at herself. "Ooo, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair!" she felt her hair, running to a nearby mirror. "Oh, the hair! It just doesn't stop, does it? Look at that. Everything changes! Oh, but I love it." She spun to face them. "I'm all sort of…mature." She put her leg on a fallen chair, striking a pose. "Hello, Benjamin."

The Doctor frowned. "Who's Benjamin?"

"The teeth!" she clicked her teeth, spinning. "The teeth, the teeth! Oh, look at them." She ran forwards and forced the Doctor back against the desk. "Watch out that bowtie!" She tweaked the tie before spinning to her parents. "Excuse me, you lot. I need to weigh myself!" And then she ran out of the room.

Amy shook her head, seeming to be in shock. "That's Melody."

"That's River Song…"

"Who's River Song?" Melody looked out from the room she'd run into.

"Spoilers," Adelaide called.

"Spoilers? What's spoilers?" she put a hand on her hip, but then seemed to realize something. "Hang on, just something I have to check." And she was gone again.

Rory rubbed his forehead. "Is anybody else finding today just a bit difficult? I'm getting a sort of banging in my head."

"Yeah, I think that's Hitler in the cupboard."

He sighed. "That's not helping."

"This isn't the River Song we know yet." The Doctor walked more towards the middle of the room, close to where Melody had regenerated, with Amy and Rory following. "This is her right at the start. Doesn't even know her own name."

"Oh, that's magnificent!" Melody cried, appearing in the doorway again. "I'm going to wear lots of jodhpurs." She smirked. "Well, now, enough of all that. Down to business." She pulled out Hitler's gun, aiming it at Adelaide since she was standing off to the side.

"How rude to bring a gun on the day you're getting married," she said, backing up towards the Doctor.

Melody shrugged, following her. "I told you I'm not a wedding person."

"What's she doing?" Rory asked them.

"What she's programmed to."

"Where'd she get the gun?"

The Doctor nodded towards a chair before the fireplace. "Hello, Benjamin."

"You noticed." She tried to fire the gun, but nothing happened. The Doctor grinned, but Adelaide didn't as she moved to stand closer to him.

"Of course I noticed. As soon as I knew you were coming, I tidied up a bit."

Melody dropped the gun. "I know you did." She moved to pull out another one.

"I know you know."

She pulled out a banana, instead of the gun she'd been aiming for earlier. Melody sighed. "Goodness, is killing one of you going to take all day?"

"Terribly sorry," Adelaide said.

"Oh, I'm not complaining." Melody grabbed a letter opener from the desk, moving to slash them, but the Doctor soniced it from her hand.

"You could have easily killed us in the cornfield," Adelaide pointed out.

"We'd only just met. I'm a psychopath. I'm not rude." She grabbed the gun from the fruit bowl, firing, but Adelaide just grabbed the clip from her hand.

"Never put down a loaded gun."

Amy shook her head. "You are not a psychopath. Why would she be a psychopath?"

"Oh, mummy, mummy, pay attention." Melody began to circle the Doctor and Adelaide. The Doctor was still grinning, but Adelaide was still as emotionless as she always was. It made her wonder if River had been trained to be a combination of the pair; as cocky as the Doctor, but as logical as her. "I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill a Time Lord."

The Doctor looked to Amy. "Demons Run, remember? This is what they were building. Our bespoke psychopath." Melody stepped closer to the Doctor, making Adelaide tense.

"I'm all yours, sweetie," she gave him a quick peck on the lips and immediately his face reddened.

"Only River Song gets to call me that."

Melody raised her eyebrows. "And who's River Song?"

"An old friend of ours."

"Stupid name." She walked towards the window. "Oh, look at that. Berlin on the eve of war. A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town." She turned back to the entire group. "Mum, Dad, don't follow me. And, yes, that is a warning."

"No warning for us then?"

Melody smirked at them. "No need, my loves. The deed is done and so are you."

The Doctor took a step forwards but staggered, falling into Adelaide's arms when she ran forwards. "Doctor," she said sharply, trying to hide the terror in her voice. She looked to Melody. "What have you done?"

"River," the Doctor managed to get out, sounding like he couldn't breathe, and Adelaide began to run through any reason he could be like he was now.

"Oh, River, River, River. More than a friend, I think."

"What have you done?" Adelaide asked again.

"It was never going to be a gun for you, Doctor, and I wanted to try you first. The man of peace who understands every kind of warfare except, perhaps, the cruelest." He rubbed his lips frantically, but Melody just smirked, blowing a kiss. "Kiss, kiss." She turned and dropped out of the window.

Rory and Amy, who'd run to the Time Lords' side, knelt on either side. "What's wrong with you?" Rory asked. "What's she done to you?"

"Poisoned," Adelaide breathed.

"But I'm fine. Well, no, I'm dying, but I've got a plan."

"What plan?"

"Not dying." He grinned. "See? Fine." Using Adelaide, he pulled himself up a bit more.

"Okay, what do we do? How can we help you?"

Adelaide tossed Rory the Doctor's sonic, which he'd still been holding. "The TARDIS will be able to home in on this. You need to go after her." She helped the Doctor stand, both of them limping to the TARDIS.

She recognized these symptoms, but if it was…she would curse herself.

 **A/N: I wonder why Adelaide might be cursing herself...have to wait till next chapter to find out! :)**


	16. Promises

**Promises**

"You said the smoke was deadly," Amy reminded them.

"No, no, the smoke's fine," the Doctor waved her off. "The poison will kill me first."

"And I don't plan on staying long. Get after River!"

Amy shook her head. "I don't understand, okay? One minute she's going to marry you and then she's going to kill you."

"Ah, well, she's been brainwashed. It all makes sense to her. Plus, she's a woman. Oh, shut up, I'm dying." They stepped into the TARDIS, immediately beginning to cough because of the gas.

"Extractor fans on!" Adelaide called and, thankfully, it worked in the Doctor's TARDIS.

He frowned, looking surprised. "Oh, that works."

"Shut up, you idiot," she told him, helping him towards the console.

|C-S|

Inside the head of the man who they'd left, fainted, on the floor of Hitler's study was a large collection of miniature people, since he wasn't a man at all. The robot was attempting to catch up to Melody, following the companions. "Okay," the captain of it said to his crew. "This time, let's do the bike, too."

"You see, he can't be dying," one of the crewmen said, pointing at the screen before him. "He's not the one who dies!"

The captain frowned. "It's her who's confirmed deceased, correct?"

The man nodded. "Yes. But even she doesn't die here; she dies in Utah, by Lake Silencio, April the 22, 2011. He doesn't, not ever."

"Time can be rewritten," a young woman reminded them. "Remember Kennedy?"

"This time can't. Her death is a confirmed fixed point, any Time Lord's death would be, theoretically. The Doctor doesn't die."

The captain shook his head. "Then someone's screwed up, because he's dying right now."

|C-S|

Inside the TARDIS, Adelaide leaned the Doctor against the console, though he slipped a bit further from the pain. "I'm shutting down," he said, wincing.

"Yes, I've gathered as much." She straightened, typing a few things into the console. "I think you've been poisoned with the Judas tree."

"How do you know…"

"First regeneration." She glanced at him. "I told the Universe that it could kill Time Lords."

"Oh, well, thanks then."

She smirked. "But I don't know what concentration…" She slammed a hand against the console. "It's acting up because Mels shot it!"

"Let me…" he tried to pull himself up, but Adelaide practically shoved him back to the ground.

"Stay. You're dying." Adelaide stood, working quickly to do a scan on the Doctor, needing to know exactly how long the Doctor had yet.

She knew it wasn't too strong of a concentration, otherwise, he would already be dead, but how long did they have… "You're going to be dead in thirty-two minutes," she said quietly from the other side of the console.

"What?"

"Thirty-two minutes," she repeated.

"Unless I'm cured, yeah?"

She came around the console. "There is no cure. You're going to be dead in thirty-two minutes."

"You're skipping thirty-one whole minutes when I'm absolutely fine."

Adelaide knelt next to him. "Then you're going to be fine for thirty-one minutes, and dead in thirty-two, but I don't think we should be debating language choices at the moment."

"Better regenerate, then."

She raised her eyebrows. "Unless you were lying, you don't have any left."

He closed his eyes from the pain. "You're not being very helpful."

"I discovered the Judas tree, I don't know how to prevent death." She ran a hand through her hair. "You have thirty-one minutes. We need to help Amy and Rory."

The Doctor grimaced, but he nodded. Adelaide stood and set the TARDIS into motion, the Doctor eventually helping as best as he could.

|C-S|

As Melody examined her new outfit in a mirror, an expressionless Amy stood behind her, though Melody hadn't looked that hard to notice that it wasn't, in fact, Amy. "I might take the age down a little, just gradually, to freak people out."

"You killed the Doctor," 'Amy' said. "You killed Adelaide."

"Haven't done the second one yet, exciting, unless she snogged him." Melody put on a hat. "Oh, regeneration. It's a whole new coloring to work with."

'Amy' moved to stand before the mirror. "You killed the Time Lords on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?"

"Quite honestly, I don't really remember. It was all a bit of jumble." 'Amy' opened her mouth, firing a beam of light at Melody and making her stumble back in pain. "No! No, get off me!"

"Sorry," someone called, and the two turned to see the Doctor leaning against the corner of the TARDIS, having changed into black tails complete with a cane, with Adelaide standing beside him, "did you say she killed the Time Lords?"

Melody's eyes widened. "You're dying and you stopped to change?"

"Oh, you should always waste time when you don't have any." He stumbled down the staircase, pointing his cane at Melody. "Time is not the boss of you. Rule four hundred and eight."

Adelaide stepped down after him, stepping in front of 'Amy'. "Amy, you seem to have become some sort of…"

"Judgement death machine?" the Doctor offered, moving to lean on her shoulders.

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Why am I not surprised?" the Doctor opened the top of his cane. "Sonic cane."

"Are you serious?"

"Never knowingly. Never knowingly be serious, unless you're Adelaide. Rule twenty-seven." He grinned. "You might want to write these down." He scanned 'Amy' with his cane. "Oh, it's a robot. With four hundred and twenty-three life signs inside. A robot worked by tiny people…love it. But how do you all get in there, though? Bigger on the inside?"

"Basic miniaturization sustained by a compression field?" Adelaide offered.

"Ooh, watch what you eat, it'll get you every time. Amy, if you and Rory are okay, signal us." His cane made a sound as Amy, undoubtedly, activated the Doctor's sonic. "Thanking you." He suddenly cried out, grabbing his leg and would have fallen, had he not already been hanging onto Adelaide, though he nearly took her down with him. "I'm so sorry, leg went to sleep. Just had a quick left leg power nap; I forgot I had one scheduled."

She guided them both to the stairs. "Better sit down." She dropped him down.

The Doctor nodded. "I think I heard the right one yawning."

Melody turned and attempted to run, but 'Amy' caught her in the beam again.

"Don't harm her!" Adelaide ordered, stepping forwards.

'Amy' turned. "Why would you care? She's the woman who kills you."

The Doctor leaned forward. "I'm not dead."

"We weren't speaking to you."

He frowned. "Rude."

"Shut up."

"You're just a rude time traveling, shape-shifting robot operated by miniaturized cross people…which I have got to admit, I didn't see coming."

Adelaide gestured towards Melody. "Why do you want her?"

"She's Melody Pond. According to records, the woman who kills Adelaide."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "And?"

"Throughout history, many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes," 'Amy' said. "Time travel has responsibilities."

"What?" the Doctor scoffed. "You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people?"

"We don't kill them. We extract them near the end of their established timelines."

"And then what?"

"Give them hell."

"I may never have learned every law of the universe, but I'm fairly certain that wasn't listed under time travel." She stepped towards 'Amy'. "Are you just walking around with discrete information about a Time Lady in your computer system?"

"Our records office is sealed to the public. Foreknowledge is dangerous."

She nodded. "Yes, I know that, but anything can be broken into."

"We can't tell you." There was a long moment of silence and Adelaide took the time to look back at the Doctor, nodding at him. "Records available."

Adelaide smiled. "Who wants the Time Lords dead?"

"The Silence."

"Any more information?" Adelaide was thankful that this negotiation was essentially just asking questions, because that was something she could do with ease, her arms crossed behind her.

"The Silence is not a species," 'Amy' said. "It is a religious order or movement. Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked."

"The question?"

"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight."

"What is the question?"

"Unknown."

She sighed. "Thank you."

The Doctor cried out in pain from behind them, though Adelaide didn't look, guessing what had just happened to him based on her own experience with the poison. "Kidneys are always the first to quit. I've had better, you know."

'Amy' just turned to Melody, turning the force field around her red and making her scream in pain.

"Amy," the Doctor said quickly, Adelaide stepping to the side so that 'Amy' could see him on the stairs. "Rory, Amy. Can you hear me?"

"What do we do? This is me. This is me actually talking. What do we do?"

He just shook his head. "Just stop them. She's your daughter. Just stop them."

"How? How? How?"

"Just do it!"

During the few seconds while they waited for 'Amy' to do something, Adelaide walked back to the Doctor and quickly checked him, reminding him about how much time he had left. Finally, the light vanished, releasing Melody. "Please…" the Doctor called to Melody, who was breathing hard. "Now you have to save your parents."

Adelaide looked over at her. "Don't run, Melody."

"We know you're scared, but never run when you're scared. Rule seven. Please…" he collapsed onto the stairs, weakened from the poison. But Melody hadn't moved yet, so Adelaide stood. Part of her wanted to stay with the Doctor because he was dying, but she also knew that it would be far too difficult to convince Melody to save her parents, and she couldn't just let Amy and Rory die.

"I'll be right back, Doctor," she told him, before turning and walking up the stairs and into the TARDIS.

He tried to push himself up once she'd left as 'Amy' cried for help, no doubt still transmitting what Amy was saying, but he was still too weak to do anything but lie there.

Melody, who still watched him, seeming to be uncertain about what she needed to do, shook her head. "Look at you. You still care. It's impressive, I'll give you that."

"River…" the Doctor managed to say, his voice even weaker now, "please."

Melody stepped closer. "Again? Who is this River? She's got to be a woman. Am I right?"

They were interrupted by the TARDIS reappearing in the room. Amy and Rory rushed out, running to the Doctor's side, before Adelaide, though they did leave space for her at the Doctor's side.

Amy shook her head. "You can't die now. You don't die…"

The Doctor smiled. "Oh, Pond, you've got a schedule for everything."

"But it doesn't make any sense." Amy looked up towards Adelaide, as though expecting her to offer some sort of explanation.

"Doctor," Rory said, "what do we do? Come on. How do we help you?"

Adelaide shook her head. "You can't, not now."

"Ponds, listen to me." The Doctor could only whisper now. "I need to talk to your daughter." Amy and Rory stood, allowing Melody to kneel on the other side of Adelaide, who was having flashbacks to another time when the Doctor was dying.

Thankfully, the universe wasn't going to be reborn today.

"Find her," the Doctor said, taking Melody's hand. "Find River Song and tell her something from me."

"Tell her what?" he pulled her down so that he could whisper in her ear, speaking so quietly that even Adelaide couldn't hear her. Melody pulled back, laughing slightly. "Well, I'm sure she knows."

The Doctor turned his gaze onto Adelaide, but couldn't manage to say something beyond a squeeze of the hand he held before he went completely limp.

And Adelaide didn't know what to do.

Because, suddenly, she couldn't focus on anything. Her vision blurred and there was a sharp pain in the back of her head.

"Adelaide…" Rory said, sounding like he was speaking through water. "What's wrong?"

Her vision cleared a bit, enough that she could focus, though now there was a sharp ringing in her ears, and she was beginning to know why.

There was another fixed event in their future and now it wasn't going to happen. She could feel her timeline shifting as the Doctor's ended before it should have.

"We're Aligned…" she said, looking up at them. She still knelt by the Doctor's body, still held his lifeless hand, because now motion was quite painful, so painful that all she wanted to do was die. It would fade, soon, but for the first few seconds… "A fixed event has been altered."

Even if the humans and part Time Lady before her didn't fully understand what that meant, her tone made it clear enough.

Melody, who seemed to have backed away from Adelaide and the Doctor, turned to Amy and Rory. "Who's River Song?"

Amy, her fists clenched, turned to 'Amy', who had frozen. "Are you still working? Because I'm still a relative. Access files on River Song."

"Records available," 'Amy' said.

"Show me her. Show me River Song." 'Amy' transformed into a slightly younger in appearance of Melody. She looked towards Adelaide and the Doctor, Adelaide having rested her forehead against his chest, eyes closed and breathing hard from the pain. More than one fixed event…it had to be, because this was more painful than Adelaide had expected. "What did he say?" Amy asked Melody. "The Doctor gave you a message for River Song. What was it?" Melody looked down at her hands, watching as they glowed with regeneration again. "What's happening?" Amy gasped. "River, what are you doing?"

"Just tell me," she said, taking a step forward. "The Doctor, is he worth it?"

"Yes!" Amy said, nodding frantically. "Yes, he is!"

Adelaide looked up as Melody came closer, her eyes wide. "No…" she whispered, shaking her head, but Melody just placed her hands on the Doctor's chest and let all of her regeneration energy seep into him, bringing him back to life.

His eyes opened. "River…no, what are you doing?"

She smiled. "Hello, sweetie."

|C-S|

In the TARDIS, Amy frowned. "So that's it, we leave her there?" They had left Melody, the Doctor giving her a final gift.

"Sisters of the Infinite Schism," the Doctor nodded. "Greatest hospital in the universe."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, but she's our daughter. She's River, and she's our daughter."

Adelaide nodded. She stood on the other side of the console to the Doctor, a screen on before her. "We have far too much foreknowledge; she needs to be on her own."

Amy leaned, attempting to see what she'd pulled up. "What's that?"

She pushed the screen to the other side of the console, away from the humans. "Information from the Teselecta. A present from the Doctor."

"River was brainwashed to kill one of you, right?" Rory asked both Time Lords, looking between them.

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, she did kill me, and then she used her remaining lives to bring me back."

"Though, apparently, she also kills me at some point in the future too," Adelaide added.

"But that stuff that they put in her head, is that gone now? The River that we know in the future, she is in prison for murder."

Amy nodded. "Whose murder? Will we see her again?"

The Doctor turned and dashed around the console, Adelaide ducking out of the way. "Oh, she'll come looking for us."

"Yeah, but how? How do people even look for you?"

He laughed. "Oh, Pond. Haven't you figure that one out yet?"

|C-S|

Once Amy and Rory had gone to their room, the Doctor went looking for Adelaide. He'd left the console to hunt for something in the TARDIS and when he'd returned, she'd been gone. So he'd left the room again, looking for her, only to step into the console room again about an hour later to find her standing at the console, studying something on the screen.

He came up beside her, seeing what she was looking at.

The information from the Teselecta. About her death.

"I never thought my death would be at a beach," she commented, not looking at him. She seemed to do that a lot. He wasn't certain if he liked it. "Suppose it has to happen somewhere."

"You're not going to die."

"It doesn't seem as though it will be up to you." Adelaide typed a few more things. "There's no mention of you."

"You're not going to die. Promise me that you're not going to die."

"We still don't know why I went to Lake Silencio," she reminded him. "I'm not going to promise anything at the moment."

"Please." He stepped closer. "Promise me, Adelaide."

She sighed, turning so that she was leaning sideways against the console. "Will you stop bothering me if I promise?"

"Please."

"You sound like a child." She shook her head. "For some reason, the Silence want us dead, and it seems as though they'd be happy settling for only one Time Lord. One of us has to die and it seems as though the Universe decided on me."

"Then promise to ignore the Universe." He studied her face, looking for any sign of emotion. "Please, Adelaide, don't go to your death. Don't abandon me."

"Then don't abandon me."

The Doctor said nothing more, the Time Lords just studying each other, because the Doctor knew that, whatever he said, she had already made a decision. He just knew that he would do whatever he could to keep her from doing as he knew she wanted, even if it was a fixed event.

Adelaide already knew why her future self had decided to go to her death instead of letting the Doctor sacrifice himself.

And she agreed.

 **A/N: Adelaide officially knows what fate has in store for her. If only the Doctor could change her mind...**


	17. Fears and Worries

**Fears and Worries**

The Doctor just finished one of his many decorative spins as he piloted the TARDIS when he winced, pulling his psychic paper from his pocket and tossing it to Adelaide to see, letting her read it first as he nursed his chest.

She raised her eyebrows as she read it. "'Please save me from the monsters'."

He grinned. "Haven't done this in a while."

Adelaide laughed. "I should have invested in a psychic paper."

"Haven't done what?" Amy called since she and Rory had been standing off to the side. "What are you doing?"

"Making a house call!"

Once the TARDIS landed, Adelaide and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS first, the other two a few steps behind. It appeared that they had landed in an alley across from a collection of flats. "No offense," Rory said to Adelaide.

"Meaning the opposite."

"But we could get a bus somewhere like this."

The Doctor sighed, shutting the door. "The exact opposite."

Amy laughed. "Well, I suppose it can't all be planets and history and stuff, Rory."

"Yes, it can!" the Doctor moved in front of them all. "Course it can. Planets and history and stuff. That's what we do!" he led the way forwards the small courtyard, scanning the area. "But not today. No, today, we're answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the Universe. A child's bedroom."

Adelaide opened the psychic paper, reading the message again. Rory looked over her shoulder. "'Please save me from the monsters'," he read. "Who sent that?"

"Think, Rory." Adelaide flicked it closed, tossing it back to the Doctor.

Amy shrugged. "Sounds like something a kid would say."

The Doctor pointed at her. "Exactly. A scared kid. A very scared kid. So scared that somehow, its cry for help got through to us in the TARDIS."

"Yeah, but you've traced it here?"

"Exactly." The lift arrived with a ding.

"Correction," Adelaide said. "We traced it somewhere up there."

|C-S|

The group split up to begin asking the various people who lived in the flats, and Adelaide wasn't happy about the fact the Doctor had run off on his own before she could stop him. She hated that it was all she could think about because this wasn't her.

True, in the past she hadn't really had a chance to work with anyone for extended periods of time since she'd preferred to be on her own, but in those instances where she was dealing with someone else, she didn't tend to be that focused on keeping them from accidentally offending anyone. So maybe it was just the fact that the Doctor was the first person she'd ever had with her for such a continuous length of time or that the Doctor offended almost everyone without realizing it.

But it didn't help that Adelaide was already feeling uncertain about this regeneration.

However, the Doctor ran away before she could say anything - just to keep her from keeping him by her side - and then 'hid' around a corner. She just sighed and let him do what he wanted, though she did stay on his floor in case anything disastrous happened.

She wished she didn't spend the majority of her time worrying about him, but Adelaide was fairly certain it was the influence of her time as a human that kept her from just leaving the Doctor behind.

Which she hated.

The Doctor practically ran into Adelaide as they both headed towards the stairs, both having finished their half of the floor. He stumbled, grabbing her arm and spinning her around in some futile attempt to stay standing as he just fell to the ground and pulled her on top of him.

There was a moment where Adelaide was lying on top of him, the fact she had one of her arms on the ground the only thing keeping their faces from touching, before she jumped up, breathing hard. The Doctor scrambled up and they stood a few feet from each other, both uncertain.

"Sorry," he said quickly, his face red.

"You are extremely clumsy." Adelaide pulled a hand through her hair, and they turned in unison to look across the flats so that they didn't have to actually look at each other.

And then they were thankful they did because they both saw a young boy looking through his window at the floor below, no doubt looking at Amy and Rory, before ducking out of sight, only to return a few seconds later.

They didn't need to speak before turning and heading for the stairs, where the Doctor let Adelaide go first. Amy and Rory walked up just as they arrived. "Hey. Any luck?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Three old ladies, a traffic warden from Croatia, and a man with ten cats."

Rory shook his head. "What are we actually looking for?"

"Ten cats!" the Doctor reminded them.

"A scared child," Adelaide said.

"I found scary kids," Amy offered. "Does that count?"

The Doctor thought on it. "Er…try the next floor down. Catch you later." He gave the humans a wave, stepping back.

"Treat everyone politely," Adelaide reminded them, following the Doctor. She knew what he was doing and she agreed; as they head into the unknown, taking the humans with them would have been far too dangerous.

|C-S|

They knocked on the door they assumed led to the flat the child lived in and the door opened almost instantly. The Doctor flashed his psychic paper to the man who had opened it. "Oh, right. That was quick."

"Was it?" the Doctor turned the paper around so that they could see what the man thought they were.

"Claire said she'd phone someone. Social Services."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Yes. Yes."

"It's not easy, you know, admitting your kid's got a problem," the man shrugged, looking between them.

"You've got a problem. We've got a problem. I bet they're connected."

Adelaide smiled. "Just call me Adelaide," the psychic paper had claimed she was Ms. Adelaide Attwater, "and he's just the Doctor. Your name is?"

"Alex."

"Hello, Alex. Pleasure to meet you." The Time Lords stepped inside the home, looking around.

"So, tell us about George." The Doctor nodded towards a hand-drawn sign on a door.

|C-S|

The Time Lords sat on the sofa, looking at a photo album that they supported between themselves while Alex spoke. "Ever since he was born he's been a funny kid."

"Funny's good." The Doctor grinned. "We like funny, don't we?"

"He never cries. Bottles it all up, I suppose. Tell him off, he just looks at you."

Adelaide nodded. "How old is he?"

"He was eight in January. I mean, he should be growing out of stuff like this, shouldn't he?"

"Perhaps," she shrugged. "But I take it that he's gotten worse recently?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. We talked about getting help. You know, maybe sending him somewhere. He started getting these nervous tics. You know, funny little cough, blinking all the time. But now it's got completely out of hand. I mean, he's scared to death of everything."

"Pantophobia."

He frowned at her. "What?"

"The fear of everything."

"Not a fear of pants, though, if that's what you're thinking…though everything includes pants, I suppose." The Doctor looked to Adelaide, who had raised her eyebrows. "Sorry. Continue."

"He hates clowns."

"Understandable."

"Old toys. He thinks the old lady across the way is a witch. He hates having a bath in case there's something under the water. The lift sounds like someone breathing." Alex sighed, sitting on the edge of the coffee table. "Look, I don't know. I'm not an expert. Maybe you can get through to him."

The Doctor smiled. "We'll do our best."

Alex nodded and stood, bringing them to George's room, but the Doctor touched Adelaide's arm before they went too far. "Did you ever study children?"

"I was a professor for quite a while." Adelaide shrugged. "I'm not an expert, but…"

"I'll try not to offend him."

"Good start."

There was a crash from George's room and Alex ran in, the Time Lords moving to stand in the doorway. "George? You okay? What's the matter?" he saw the lamp that had fallen to the ground. "Oh, never mind. Were you having a nightmare, son?"

George shook his head. "Wasn't a nightmare. I wasn't asleep." He looked to the doorway, frowning at the Time Lords. "Who are you?"

"I'm Adelaide, and he's the Doctor."

"A doctor?" George gasped. "Have you come to take me away?"

"No, George," the Doctor said. "We just want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About the monsters."

|C-S|

The Doctor took a seat on the foot of George's bed, messing with a Rubik's Cube, while Adelaide still stood at the doorway, watching the entire group, and Alex paced. "Maybe it was things on the telly, you know?"

"Right." The Doctor clearly wasn't paying attention, but Alex didn't seem to have noticed.

"Scary stuff, getting under his skin, frightening him."

"Mmm-hmm."

"We stopped letting him watch TV."

The Doctor smiled at George. "Oh, you don't want to do that."

"Then Claire thought it might have been something he was reading…"

"Great! Reading's great. You like stories, George?" George nodded. "Yeah? Me, too. When I was your age about, oh, a thousand years ago, I loved a good bedtime story. 'The Three Little Sontarans', 'The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes', 'Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday', eh? All the classics." He threw the Rubik's Cube over his shoulder. "Rubbish. Must be broken. I hate those things."

"Still, better put it away," Adelaide said, stepping forwards and taking the cube from Alex, who had picked it up. "Why not in there…" she walked towards the cupboard, frowning when George gasped, even more scared. "Why not, George?"

"It's a…thing," Alex explained for his son. "A thing we got him doing ages back. Anything that frightens him, we put it in the cupboard. Creepy toys, scary pictures, that sort of thing."

Adelaide moved towards the cupboard, running a hand against the wood. The Doctor turned to George. "There's nothing to be scared off, George." Her hand had just reached the door when a loud knocking sound interrupted them.

"Front door," Alex said, leaving to answer it, though he left the door open enough that the Time Lords could still hear what was being said between Alex and the landlord, even if that meant that George could also hear.

The boy regarded the door with fear clear on his face. The Doctor, wanting to distract George, pulled out his sonic and turned it on. Thankfully, it did as he wanted, and George looked over with interest. "Is that a torch?"

"Screwdriver," he corrected, pointing it towards Adelaide, who had moved to the middle of the room. "She's got a pen. Sonic ones, too. And other stuff."

"Please may I see the other stuff?"

Adelaide smiled at the boy. "You may."

The Doctor soniced some of the tows and all of the powered ones lit up. "Ah, pretty cool, eh?" he grinned, and George focused on the toys with wide eyes. "That's better. No tears from George, that's what we've heard. Go on, give us a smile, there's a brave little soldier. Bit rusty at this." He stood, walking over to Adelaide's side. "Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be…" she directed the sonic towards the cupboard before he could move and the pitch got even louder. Their eyes widened. "Off the scale…" he breathed, falling back. "Off the scale!" he touched Adelaide's arm, looking at her.

Alex stepped back into the room, rubbing his hands together. "Right, sorry about that. So, have we got this thing open yet?" he reached for the latch to the cupboard.

"No!" the Doctor said, Adelaide grabbing Alex's shoulder and pulling him back. "No, no, no, no, no. You don't want to do that!"

Alex frowned at both of them. "Why?"

"Because George's monsters are real."

|C-S|

Despite Adelaide's complaints, the Doctor searched through the kitchenette. Alex glared at him with Adelaide beside him, though she wasn't really doing anything to stop him. "You're supposed to be professionals! I'll never get him to sleep now. It's so irresponsible."

"No, Alex," the Doctor spun to Alex before Adelaide could speak. "Responsible. Very. Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there's something else. Something I've missed…something staring me in the face."

Adelaide stepped forward, tapping either side of the Doctor's face. "Focus."

Alex shook his head. "Look, I'd like you both to leave, please. You're just making things worse." The Doctor turned away from Adelaide, grabbing the cups he'd found. "Will you stop making tea!" Alex grabbed them back. "I want you to leave."

"No." The Doctor took them back, passing them to Adelaide as he went to open the refrigerator door.

"What? What do you mean, 'no'?" Alex shut the door. "Leave! Get out!" He opened the door again, making Alex close it. "Now, please. Look, maybe this was a bad idea. We should sort out George ourselves."

"You can't," Adelaide informed him, giving the Doctor the cups again.

"No one's going to tell us how to run our lives. I don't care who you are or what wheels have been set in motion. We'll sort it!"

"I'm not just a professional. I'm the Doctor." He gestured towards Adelaide with his cup. "She might be a professional, though I'm not quite certain how it translates on this planet." She sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex shook his head.

"It means we've come a long way to get here, Alex," the Doctor said. "A very long way. George sent a message. A distress call, if you like. Whatever's inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful, that if amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space. Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire. Through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes. And one thing I can tell you, Alex…monsters are real."

Adelaide turned to look at the Doctor with her mouth slightly open.

Alex had quite a similar expression on his face. "You're not from Social Services, are you?"

The Doctor grinned. "First things first. You got any Jammie Dodgers?" he glanced at Adelaide. "Please?"

 **A/N: Forced teamwork with the Time Lords fun :) And a bit more of Adelaide thinking about this regeneration...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Starangel5593: This review was one of the main reasons I made an effort to get this chapter up today even though I have a midterm tomorrow, so congrats :)_


	18. Monsters and Adventures

**Monsters and Adventures**

They'd returned to looking at photos, the Time Lords in the same position, though the album was more in Adelaide's lap as she frowned at a picture of George's mother, Claire. The Doctor shook his head, looking over her shoulder. "What is it with these photos?" he mumbled and Adelaide could only shake her head. The Doctor leaned back in the chair. "Anyway. Good, nice tea. Nothing like a cuppa, but decisions. Should we open the cupboard?"

Alex almost choked on the tea. "What?"

"Should we?"

"Well…"

"Got to open the cupboard, haven't we?" he looked to Adelaide, who nodded. There was no way to know what was in the cupboard without opening it, as much as she didn't like the thought. "Course we have. Come on, Alex. Alex! Come on. How else will we ever find out what's going on here?"

Alex nodded. "All right, but you said…"

"Monsters! Yeah, well, that's what we do. Breakfast, dinner, and tea. Fight the monsters. So this, this is just an average day at the office for us."

Adelaide scoffed. "You've made this an average day, Doctor. My life used to be nothing like this before you arrived."

He grinned. "Then I've made your life far more entertaining."

Alex, who didn't seem to have heard their last few statements, nodded. "Okay, yeah, you're right."

"Or maybe we shouldn't open the cupboard. We have no idea what might be in there. How powerful, how evil that thing might be."

Alex frowned. "We don't?"

"Come on Alex. Alex! Come on. Are you crazy? We can't open the cupboard."

"God, no, no, we mustn't!"

The Doctor stood. "Right. That settles it."

"Settles what?"

"Going to open the cupboard." He drained his cup of tea before turning to Adelaide and holding out a hand to help her stand, the pair heading towards George's room, though, for once, they did not keep holding hands as they did so.

They wanted to, certainly, but, after everything that had happened…they couldn't.

|C-S|

The three adults stood before the cupboard with George hiding behind his father. The Doctor, glancing at Adelaide on the other side of Alex, reached forward and opened it quickly, leaping back. But inside was only a collection of clothing and toys. Adelaide scanned it quickly, but despite the high pitch again, there was no sign of anything overly uncommon.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't understand it. It has to be the cupboard. The readings from the sonic, they were…"

"Photos," Adelaide told him and the Doctor ran out of the room, returning with the photos in hand.

"How old is George, Alex?" he asked and Adelaide nodded. She wasn't certain, but the Doctor appeared to have the same idea, so that meant she wasn't completely off. Granted, she wasn't normally completely off.

"What? How old?"

Adelaide nodded. "Yes; how old is George?"

"Well, I told you. Just turned eight."

"So you remember when he was born, then?"

"Of course!"

"Course you do. How could you not?" he held up the album, showing them a picture of Claire around Christmas. "You and Claire. Christmas Eve, 2002, right?"

"What? Er…yeah."

"A few weeks before George was born," Adelaide said. "Tell us about the day he arrived."

"Must have been wonderful."

"Well, it was the best day of my…" Alex paused, blinking, for a few seconds "life."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Sure?"

"Yes."

"You don't sound sure."

"What are you trying to say? Look, I don't like this. I've told you before, I want you to go!" he pointed at the door, but his voice was shaking.

"What's the matter, Alex?"

"I can't…oh, don't! Oh, this is scary."

"No, Alex, this is scary. Claire with baby George." The Doctor held up another picture. "Newborn, yes?"

"Yes."

"Less than a month after Christmas."

"So?"

"So look. Look!" he pointed at Claire's very obviously flat stomach from the previous picture. "Claire's not pregnant."

"What?"

"Not pregnant."

"Well, of course not. Claire can't have kids!" it took Alex a second before he seemed to realize what he had just said, his mouth falling open.

Adelaide nodded. "Say that again, Alex." She was honestly surprised she hadn't stopped the Doctor from doing was he'd done, but she supposed her own curiosity had overruled Alex's comfort.

That was slightly refreshing. That was how she'd used to be.

"We tried everything. She was desperate. As much IVF as we could afford but…Claire can't have kids." Alex shook his head. "How? How can I have forgotten that?"

They all turned to look at George, who had gone to sit on the bed, watching them. "Who are you, George?" the Doctor whispered.

"It's not possible. This isn't…"

"George?" Adelaide asked, holding out a hand. The boy had begun to breathe heavily, desperate for air, and the room began to shake. A white light appeared through the cracks of the cupboard, the bedside lamp glowing brightly, before the cupboard door swung open with a vortex of bright light. It grabbed the Doctor, Adelaide, and Alex, pulling them towards it.

"George!" the Doctor shouted. "George, what's going on? Are you doing it?"

"What's happening."

George pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and closing his eyes. "Please save me from the monsters! Please save me from the monsters! Please save me from the monsters!"

They attempted to fight the cupboard, but it was very clear that the cupboard was far stronger than any of them. "George, no!"

"Help me!"

"Please save me from the monsters!"

"George!" Adelaide was pulled into the cupboard, followed quickly by the Doctor.

"No!" and even Alex was pulled in, making the door slam shut.

|C-S|

The Time Lords jerked awake, Adelaide a second or two before the Doctor, and quickly determined where they had ended up; they were inside the dollhouse. The Doctor ran to the door of the dining room they'd ended up in. "George! George, don't do this. We want to help you, George!"

Alex groaned as he woke, rubbing his head. "We went…we went into the cupboard. We went into the cupboard! How can it be bigger in here?"

Adelaide scanned him to ensure he was alright. "It's not bigger, we're smaller. But you're okay."

"Where are we?"

"Notice everything." Alex just shook his head as the Doctor poked the turkey on the table. "The dollhouse."

"The dollhouse?"

"The dollhouse in the cupboard."

Alex grabbed his head, shaking it again. "No, no, just slow down, would you?"

Adelaide sighed. "Doctor?" he threw her the turkey. "Wooden turkey. Cups, saucers, plates," the Doctor threw her things as she named them, showing them to Alex as she went, "knives, forks, fruit. All wooden. Thus, dollhouse."

"Or this is a refuge for dirty posh people who eat wooden food," the Doctor called. "Or termites. Giant termites trying to get on the property ladder. No…that's not possible…is that possible?" he looked to Adelaide.

"Giant termites?" he nodded. "I've met some." She stood and, gesturing to Alex, left the room with the Doctor.

Alex rushed after them, grabbing both of their arms to stop them and spin them around to face him. "Look, will you stop? What is he? What is George? And how could I forget that Claire can't have kids? How?"

"Perception filter," the Doctor said. "Some kind of hugely powerful perception filter. Convinced you and Claire, everyone." The Doctor stepped away, continuing to walk down the hallway. "Made you change your memories. Now, what could do that?" he stopped in front of the mirror, making a face.

Adelaide sighed, walking forward and taking the Doctor's arm to keep pulling him forward. Alex paused and looked at the mirror, shaking his head. "Just a mirror."

They kept walking down the hallway, exploring. "So, Claire can't have kids and something responded to that," the Doctor mumbled, working through his ideas. "Responded to that need. What could do that?"

"I thought you two were the experts, fighting monsters all day long." Alex shrugged. "You tell me."

"Oi!" the Doctor turned to him. "Listen, mush. Old eyes, remember? I've been around the block a few times." The Doctor, cleverly, did not speak for Adelaide. "More than a few. They've knocked down the blocks I've been round and re-built them as bigger blocks. Superblocks. And I've been round them as well. I can't remember everything!"

Alex looked at Adelaide expectedly. "I was more of a scientist than monster hunter, which means I have quite a few species running through my head right now. It will take some time before I know anything for certain."

"It's like…trying to remember the name of someone you met at a party when you were two."

"Doctor…"

"Or trying to remember a word at a specific point in the dictionary."

"The lift…"

"And I can't just plump for 'Brian' like I normally do."

"Listen!"

Adelaide put her hand over the Doctor's mouth, silencing him. "What is that?"

"It's the lift. It's the sound that the lift makes. George is scared stiff of it." Alex looked to the side, seeing five electric candles going out one by one, only to turn on and off again, still one at a time. "Five times."

She looked over. "Yes?"

"The lights. It's happening five times. It's like one of George's habits. We have to switch the lights on and off five times."

She smiled. "Very good!" The Doctor licked Adelaide's hand, making her snatch it away and rub it against his jacket.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you tell George to do, Alex," the Doctor asked, "with everything that scares him?"

"Well, put it in the…cupboard."

"Exactly. And George isn't just an ordinary little boy, we know that now, so anything scary he puts in here. Scary toys, like the dollhouse. Scary noises, like the lift. Even his little rituals have become part of it."

Adelaide nodded. "A psychic repository for his fears. So a psychic field, perception filter, and filling Claire's need…" she closed her eyes, thinking, and thus missed when the door opened and a life-sized doll entered. The Doctor pulled her back, disrupting her focus.

"Oh my God," Alex breathed. The Doctor pulled out his sonic, flashing it. "A gun? You've got a gun?"

The Doctor frowned at him. "It's not a gun!" he groaned. "Wood! I've got to invent a setting for wood. It's embarrassing." He ran for the door at the opposite end of the room, grabbing a gigantic pair of children's safety scissors as he went. "Come on!"

Adelaide grabbed Alex and made him come after them, leaving the room and slamming the door, before spinning on the Doctor, grabbing his arms instead. "Tenza!"

His eyes widened. "Tenza?"

"Tenza!"

"Of course he is! George is a Tenza!"

Alex frowned. "He's a what?"

"Like a cuckoo; he's a Tenza." Adelaide was grinning widely now, almost laughing. "Millions of them hatch throughout the universe and then drift off, looking for a nest. They can sense what their foster parents want and then assimilate perfectly."

Other dolls entered the room and Alex shoved back two of them. "George is an alien?"

"Yep."

"But he's…he's our child!"

Adelaide nodded, pulling both of them back up the staircase. "He found you and became the child you always wanted, but something must have scared him and instinctively started this cycle of fear. He's likely not even aware he's doing it."

"So, we have to make him aware." The Doctor ran up the next flight. "George! George, you're the only one who can stop this but you have to believe! You have to believe! You have to know you're safe! We can't save you from the monsters, only you can! George, listen to me! George! Listen to me!" he spun, spotting Rory fighting off two dolls with a mop. "Rory!"

"Doctor!"

"Where's Amy?" Rory pointed at a red-haired doll. "Oh no…George! George, you have to face your fears! You have to face them now! You have to open the cupboard, or we'll all be trapped here forever in a living death! George! George, listen to me! George!" they were all being cornered by dolls, separated, barely able to do anything to fight them. "George, please! George, you have to end this! End this, end it! End it now!"

And then the dolls stopped.

Adelaide turned since she'd been pushed against the banister of the staircase. George had appeared in the center of the foyer, looking up at them in terror. "George, everything's going to be okay now, I promise."

But then the dolls started to move again, only this time they moved towards George.

"No!" the Doctor ran to the banister. "No, no, no, no, no, no! George, you created this whole world, this whole thing. You can smash it. You can destroy it!" George shook his head. "Something's holding him back. Something's holding him back…something…" the Doctor turned to Adelaide for a second, eyes wide, before spinning on Alex. "That's what did it. That's what the trigger was. He thought you were rejecting him. He thought he wasn't wanted, that someone was going to come and take him away…"

Alex looked towards George. "Well, we…we talked about it."

"Yeah, and he heard you, Alex."

Adelaide nodded. "The sole function of a Tenza is to fit in and be wanted, and you were rejecting him."

"We just couldn't cope! We needed help!"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "but George didn't know that. He thought you were rejecting him. He still thinks it."

"But how can we keep him? How can we? He's not…"

"Not what?"

The dolls closed in around George. "He's not…human."

"Dad!" George shouted, and Alex couldn't stand still any longer.

He ran forwards, shoving the scissors into the Doctor's arms and pushed aside the dolls to get to his son, falling to the ground and pulling him into a tight hug, letting him cry on his shoulder. "Whatever you are, whatever you do, you're my son, and I will never, ever send you away. Oh, George. Oh, my little boy."

"Dad…" a bright light started to come through the windows.

"My little boy."

"Dad."

|C-S|

The Doctor looked over when someone arrived in the doorway of the kitchen, clearly Claire once he saw her. "Hello!" he cheered. Claire just stared at where George was sitting on the counter, playing with a toy. "You're Claire, I expect." He walked up to her, giving her air kisses that made Adelaide sigh. "Claire, how'd you feel about kippers?" he moved back to the stove, where he'd been instructing Adelaide.

"Er…who…"

"They sent someone about George," Alex said, gesturing to the Time Lords. "It's all sorted."

"Yeah, we had a great time, didn't we?" the Doctor said, grinning at George.

George grinned widely. "Yeah!"

"See? He's fine."

Claire moved to her son. "What, just like that?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. Trust me. And if you don't, trust her." Adelaide gave a little wave.

Alex kissed Claire on the cheek, making George smile again, and the Time Lords left once Claire made it clear she was going to take over the cooking. They had just gotten out the door when they heard Alex saying, "Doctor, Adelaide, wait."

"Sorry, yes," the Doctor said, turning and shaking his hand. "Bye." Adelaide did the same.

"No, no, you can't just…I mean…"

"It's sorted. You sorted it." The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "Good man, Alex. Proud of you."

"What, that's it?"

"Apart from ensuring he eats his greens and gets into a good school, yes," Adelaide said, stepping back.

"But is he going to, I don't know, sprout another head or three eyes or something?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "He's a Tenza; he's going to adapt perfectly."

The Doctor leaned forward, giving George a wave as he appeared in the doorway. "Hey!" he straightened. "Be whatever you want him to be."

"We might be back around puberty," Adelaide said. "Tenzas can have a difficult time with that."

The Doctor nodded. "Always a funny time."

"But enjoy it," Adelaide said, stepping back as Claire called for Alex to return. Alex gave them a final wave before they turned and went for the stairs, deciding not to risk the lift at the moment.

They found Amy and Rory sitting on a low wall waiting for them. "Come on, you two. Things to do, people to see, whole civilizations to save." Amy stood, still looking slightly uneasy. "You feeling okay?"

Amy nodded. "Er, I think so."

"Well, it's good to be all back together again, in the flesh. Come on." He led the way back to the TARDIS, almost running back up to the console once they arrived. "Now, did someone mention something about planets and history and stuff?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah."

"Where do you want to go?"

Amy frowned. "Um…"

"Mind's gone blank."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, I have just been turned into a wooden dolly."

"Excuses, excuses."

Rory shrugged. "It's tough, though. It's like being given three wishes. The whole universe?"

"Or universes," the Doctor offered. "Ooo, three wishes, like Ali Baba." He looked to Adelaide. "How about that?"

She winced. "Oh, best not. It didn't go well last time."

"Last time? You've met Ali Baba before?"

 **A/N: A relatively happy ending, for once :)**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Starangel5593: Procrastination is a wonderful thing sometimes ;)_


	19. Now

**Now**

"Apalapucia," the Doctor said, clapping as he walked around the console.

Rory frowned. "Say it again?"

"What do you think?" he came to a stop at Adelaide's side. "Apalapucia?"

She smiled. "Apalapucia."

"Apalapu…" Amy tried.

"Cia."

"Apalapucia."

"Apalapucia."

"Apalapucia." Amy smiled. "What a beautiful word."

"Beautiful word, beautiful world." The Doctor spun away from Adelaide, continuing to pilot. "Apalapucia; voted number two planet in the top ten greatest destinations for the discerning intergalactic traveler."

Rory frowned, leaning back against the console railing. "Why couldn't we go to number one?"

Adelaide grimaced. "Everyone goes to number one. It's not special anymore. But Apalapucia…" she grinned. "Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades…"

The Doctor brought them to the TARDIS doors. "I give you…" he opened them, stopping short at the sight of a white room with a pair of gray doors.

Rory raised his eyebrows, stepping out of the TARDIS. "Doors."

The Doctor nodded. "Doors. Yes. I give you doors. But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades…" he turned to Adelaide. "We're on Apalapucia, right?"

"Yes, we are on Apalapucia," she said, though she frowned at the doors.

Amy stopped in the doorway of the TARDIS. "Have you seen my phone?"

"Your phone?"

"Yeah."

"Your mobile telephone? We bring you to a paradise planet, two billion light years from Earth, and you want to update Twitter?"

She shrugged. "Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades. It's a camera phone."

The Doctor blinked. "On the counter, by the DVDs."

Amy nodded, returning to the TARDIS. "Thank you!"

Rory walked up to Adelaide, who was still studying the buttons. There was a green anchor and a red waterfall. "How do we get in?"

She shrugged. "Pick a button."

Rory, glancing at her again, pressed the green anchor. The door slid open and they found another white room, though this one had a table and chairs with an overlarge magnifying glass. "Okay," the Doctor mumbled, "so rain check on the soaring silver colonnades."

The door shut behind them as they stepped inside. "It's a magnifying glass," Rory said, bending to look more at it.

"Hey?" they heard Amy call through the door. "Hey, it's locked."

"Yeah, push the button." It was silent, but the door didn't open. "Come on, Amy." Still, nothing. The Time Lords exchanged a look, though they said nothing as Rory walked over and opened the door, revealing that Amy wasn't there. "Where is she? Where on wherever we are is my wife?"

"Rory," the Doctor called, making the man turn, "I think I've found her." They could see a blurry image of Amy in the glass, seeming to be looking at them through her own glass.

"What do you mean you've found her?" Rory walked over, gasping. "Whoa…no, but, she's not…she's not here. I can see her, but she's not here."

"Where am I?" Amy asked. The Doctor walked around the table, studying it, while Adelaide frowned at the glass. "In fact, where are you?"

The door opened and a white robot entered. It had red and green buttons on its torso and had actual hands. "Whoa," Rory said, putting his hands up, the Time Lords doing the same.

"Hands!" the Doctor pointed at them, looking at Adelaide in excitement. "Hello, hands. Robot with hands!"

"Welcome to the Two Streams Facility," the robot said. "Will you be visiting long?"

"Adelaide," Amy called, "something's happening."

She turned, sonicing it as the image seemed to be going in fast forward. "Stay still. Time's gone…"

"Wobbly?" the Doctor offered, walking over to help, and Adelaide shrugged. "I hate it when it does that."

The robot turned to Rory. "Will you be visiting long?"

He stepped back, eyeing the outstretched hand. "Good question. Bit sinister. What's the answer to not get us killed?"

"It's okay," the Doctor said to Amy, coming back to stand by Adelaide as the image stabilized. "We've got you, you're fine."

"Will you be visiting long?"

"Doctor?" Rory asked them. "Adelaide? A little help…"

But they were a bit distracted by how irritated Amy looked. "And where have you been?"

"What do I tell it?"

"I've been here a week!"

The Time Lords froze, looking at Amy with wide eyes. "A week?" the Doctor repeated. "A week? I'm so sorry…"

Adelaide's sonic made a sound and she looked at it. "Same room, different times."

The Doctor nodded. "Two different timestreams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster timestream."

Amy groaned. "It's going again!"

"Doctor!" Rory shouted, but the Time Lords paid him no attention.

"Come on," the Doctor mumbled, working on the glass. "Gotcha! There, stabilized, settled, shush."

Rory frowned at the robot, not trusting it even if it had yet to move forward. "Why has this got hands?"

Adelaide stood, walking over to the robot while the Doctor worked on Amy. "Organic skin, ultimate universal interface, grown and grafted, not born." She let one of her hands hover over the robot's, though she didn't dare let herself actually touch it. "It's scanning the room with its fingers…but why not give it eyes?"

"Will you be visiting long?" the robot asked her.

"As long as it takes," the Doctor mumbled, still standing before Amy. "Amy, what exactly did you do?"

"I just…I came in and I pressed the door button."

Rory sighed. "Oh, Amy, there are two buttons. The green anchor and the red waterfall. Which one did you push?"

"I pushed the red waterfall."

"Great." Rory stepped outside, though he returned a few seconds later with a frown. "I pressed red waterfall, and she wasn't there."

"Okay, so you can't follow her directly. You know, it's never simple."

Adelaide stepped a bit back from the robot. "Do you understand the concept that, as you neglected to provide proper instructions, she pressed the wrong button."

"Statement rejected." A red light blinked on its chest. "Apalapucia is under plant-wide quarantine. This is a kindness facility for those infected with Chen Seven."

Immediately, the Time Lords covered their mouths, stepping back. "What?" the Doctor said.

"Chen Seven, hmm?" Rory covered his own mouth at the Time Lords' reaction.

"The one day plague."

"What, you get it for a day?"

Adelaide shook her head. "You get it and you die in a day."

"There are forty thousand residents in the Two Streams Facility. Please remain in the sterile areas. Visiting hours are now." The robot pressed its hands together and teleported itself away.

Adelaide uncovered her mouth. "Sterile area." She looked to the Doctor. "We're safe." He nodded, though he was a bit more uneasy about uncovering his mouth than Adelaide was.

"What about me?" Amy called.

"Chen Seven only affects two-hearted races, such as Apalapucians."

"And Time Lords," Rory added.

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, like us." He gestured between himself and Adelaide. "Walk into that facility, we're dead in a day. Time moves faster on Amy's side of the glass."

Adelaide turned back to the glass. "You said you'd been here for a week; what did you eat?"

She shrugged. "Nothing, I wasn't hungry."

The Doctor moved to stand beside Adelaide. "No, because that red waterfall time is compressed. That's the point. The Time Glass syncs up the two timestreams for visits. You could be in here for a day, and watch them live out their entire lives."

Rory frowned. "And watch them grow old in front of your eyes? That's horrible."

"No, Rory, it's kind. You've got a choice; sit by their bedside for twenty-four hours and watch them die, or sit in here for twenty-four hours and watch them live. Which would you choose?" the Doctor picked up the glass.

"Doctor?" Amy shouted, sounding desperate. "No, don't leave me!"

"We're here, Amy. We're right here."

They could still see Amy sitting where she had been previously, though clearly she couldn't see them. "Where are you? Am I looking at you?"

"Turn left just a fraction." Amy did as the Doctor said. "Bit more…stop. That's it."

"Eye to eye?"

"Eye to eye to eyes."

Rory waved, even if Amy couldn't see it. "Hello."

"Amy, we're taking the Time Glass back to the TARDIS," the Doctor said, glancing at Adelaide for her approval. "Like sat-nav, we'll use it to get a lock, then smash through using the TARDIS to get you out. Until then, you're on your own." He held the device for Adelaide to sonic.

"What are you doing?"

"Locking it on to Amy," Adelaide said. "Since it's a small act of vandalism, I decided I should be the one to do it." An alarm sounded. "And that's the small-act-of-vandalism alarm. Goodness, haven't set off one of those in a while."

"You've set off a vandalism alarm before?" the Doctor asked.

Adelaide shrugged. "First regeneration was a bit more…carefree about the whole thing." She turned to the glass. "Amy, we're going to need you to go into the facility to leave us a sign. Don't let them give you anything; you may be immune to Chen Seven, but the system won't know you're an alien."

"Their kindness will kill you," the Doctor said. "Now go."

Amy walked over to the door and pressed a button, making the door slide open into a lift. "Rory, I love you. Now save me. Go on."

|C-S|

The Doctor ran up to the TARDIS console immediately, with Adelaide and Rory joining him at a far slower pace, since he already had Adelaide's sonic in case he needed it. "This is locked onto Amy permanently." He inserted the glass into the console. "Play the signal into the console, the TARDIS'll follow it." He attached a cable and then spun to dig through a box he had beneath the console. "Now then, I know you're in here."

Adelaide shook her head as she watched him. "Can you just let me clean your TARDIS, for once?"

"I know where everything is!"

"Clearly."

He stood up, putting on a pair of glasses. "How do I look?"

"Ridiculous," Rory said, in a tone that made Adelaide smirk.

"Glasses are cool, see?" he put them on Rory. "Oh, yes. Hello, handsome man."

Rory looked a bit surprised. "Oh…hello."

The Doctor waved. "Hello, Rory-cam."

"Huh?" the Doctor pointed to the side, letting Rory see that whatever he was looking at appeared on the monitor. "Oh, you can see what I see."

"We're breaking into Two Streams. Adelaide and I can't go in there; the Chen Seven'll kill us, no regeneration. You will be our eyes and ears."

Rory nodded. "Rory-cam. Rescue Amy. Got it."

The Doctor grinned. "That's the spirit. Now, smashing through a timewall could get a bit hairy."

"Is it safe?" he looked to Adelaide.

She shrugged. "Never tried."

They turned to the Doctor. "Don't know. Best hold onto something." He flicked a lever, sending them off, though the Doctor started laughing as he held on. Even Adelaide grinned; as serious and polite as being around the Doctor made this regeneration be, she did still enjoy the more exciting TARDIS flights they went on.

But it felt like she was forcing it because it was what her past regenerations had liked. Like it didn't quite sit with this one. Like nothing she'd ever been like before sat with this one.

Adelaide had recently realized that she wanted to regenerate. To return to what she'd been like before the Time War.

She hadn't told the Doctor, but she knew it was true.

She didn't want to be Time Lady Victorious anymore.

|C-S|

The Time Lords, standing before the monitor, watched as Rory stepped out of the TARDIS wearing the glasses. He had Adelaide's sonic and the time glass, and slowly looked around the room full of various art pieces. She recognized almost all of them, despite never having been overly interested in art.

"Red waterfall!" Rory cheered once he saw the logo on the wall. "We made it."

The Doctor grinned. "Good old us!"

"How do we know that we're in the same Red Waterfall as Amy?"

"Focus on the positive." Rory looked around the room. "We locked onto Amy's timestream…"

Rory's gaze lingered on a statue of Venus. "Rory?" Adelaide called, making him look away quickly.

"Right, yes, sorry."

"Apalapucians are scavengers of culture," she explained, giving the Doctor a shove when he smirked. "This gallery must be a scrapbook of their various favorite locations."

Rory nodded. "Bit of Earth, bit of alien, bit of…whatever the hell that is." He continued walking, though stopped. "Where is everyone?"

The Doctor frowned. "Right…Rory, switch the Time Glass on and sonic it. I'm sending a command signal to the screwdriver. Amy's here somewhere, if I can just get a lock on her. I wonder what happens if we mix the filters?" he worked on the console, Adelaide just leaning against it as she watched, attempting to stay out of his way.

She moved over when she saw a reading appear on the screen. "Forty thousand time streams overlapping," she whispered. "Red Waterfall isn't just one timestream, it's thousands."

"Are they happy?"

She smiled briefly. "Thank you, Rory, for thinking of that."

The Doctor nodded. "I think they're happy to be alive. Better than the alternative."

Rory lowered the Time Glass with just enough time to see someone dressed in handmade armor running towards him with an outstretched sword. "I come in peace!" he backed up, raising his arms. "Peace, peace, peace, peace!" he fell back as the person held the sword to his throat.

Adelaide's eyes just widened as she saw a bit of red hair drifting free from the person's armor. "No…"

"I waited," the person said, their voice computerized, clearly having built their armor from the robots.

"Sorry, what?"

"I waited for you." The person pulled away. "I waited for you!" They lifted the visor to show that, as Adelaide had expected, it was Amy Pond, only it was clear that years had passed.

"Amy…" Rory breathed. "Doctor, Adelaide, what's going on?"

"Er…" the Doctor looked to Adelaide, but she was watching the monitor.

"Amy…"

"I think the timestream lock might be a bit wobbly," the Doctor said quietly.

Amy raised her sword, looking prepared to strike. "No, please! Please!"

"Duck!" thankfully, Rory listened, letting Amy stab one of the robot's straight through the head. She crouched over it. "Handbots carry a black box in case they go offline. I've changed the cause of termination from hostile to accidental. Easy to re-program. Used my sonic probe."

"Amy."

Amy looked to him. "Rory."

"Why?"

"Because I've survived this long by making the Handbots think I don't exist." She pointed at the hands. "Don't touch the hands. There's anesthetic transfer on the skin. If they touch you, you go to sleep."

"But you're still here?"

"You didn't save me." Amy stood and walked off, though Rory ran after her.

"But, this is the saving. This is us saving you! The Doctor just got the timing a bit out."

"Sorry," the Doctor said.

"It was my fault too," Adelaide said, touching his arm.

Amy didn't look back at Rory. "I've been on my own here for a long, long time. I've had decades to think nice thoughts about both of them. Got a bit harder to stay charitable once I entered decade four."

Rory gasped. "Forty years? Alone?"

"Thirty-six years, thanks."

"No, right, I mean…you look great. Really, really…"

"Eyes front, soldier."

"Still can't win then."

"In fact, I think I can now definitely say I hate them. I hate the Doctor and Adelaide. I hate them more than I've ever hated anyone in my life, and you can hear every word of this through those ridiculous glasses, can't you, Addy and Raggedy Man?"

Adelaide looked down, flicking a switch. "Putting the speakerphone on."

"You told me to wait, and I did. A lifetime."

"Amy…"

"You've got nothing to say to me."

"Behind you!"

Amy spun and, tossing the sword to Rory, ducked down and pressed the hands of two of the robots together, seeming to short them out. "Feedback. Knocks them out. Learned that trick on my first day." She stood and continued walking, though Rory followed her out.

"Okay," Rory said, "so we just take the TARDIS back to the right timestream, yeah? We can stop any of this happening."

The Doctor shook his head. "We locked onto a timestream, Rory. This is it."

"This is so wrong."

"I got old, Rory. What did you think was going to happen?"

Rory grabbed her arm, making her stop and actually look at him. "Hey, I don't care that you got old. I care that we didn't grow old together. Amy, come on, please."

Amy wrenched her arm away from him. "Don't touch me. Don't do that."

"It's like you're not even her."

"Thirty-six years, three months, four days of solitary confinement." She stopped before a door with undefined red marks on it. "This facility was built to give people the chance to live. I walked in here and I died. Do you have anything to say? Anything, Doctor, Adelaide?"

"Where did you get a sonic probe?" Adelaide asked.

"I made it."

"You made a sonic screwdriver?"

"Probe; the interface helped," she corrected, before turning and leading the way through the doors. Rory stopped at the sight of the large engines but eventually followed Amy through a small curtain. He stepped back at the sight of a robot with a face drawn on it. "Don't worry about him. Sit down, Rory."

Both Rory and the robot did as she said. "You named him after me?"

Amy shrugged. "Needed a bit of company."

"So he's like your…pet? Is it safe?"

"Yep. I disarmed it."

"How?" Rory looked down at the robot, seeing that the hands were cut off. "Oh, you dis-armed it."

"Oh, don't get sentimental," Amy scoffed, "it's just a robot. You'd have done the same."

"I don't know that I would have," the Doctor said.

Amy turned and glared at the glasses. "And there he is, the voice of God. Survive, because no one's going to come for you. Number one lesson. You taught me that?"

"Is that really all I taught you?"

"It wasn't just you," Amy informed them. "But don't you lecture me, blue-box aliens flying through time and space on whimsy. All I've got, all I've had for thirty-six years, is cold, hard reality. So no, I don't have a sonic screwdriver because I'm not off on a romp. I call it what it is; a probe. And I call my life what it is; Hell."

"Amy Pond," the Doctor whispered, "I am going to put this right."

 **A/N: What's this? Adelaide wants to regenerate? That can't be good...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Starangel5593: Thankfully, didn't procrastinate studying this weeks midterms, even if it did mean no chapter in the middle of the week :)_


	20. Then

**Then**

Adelaide leaned forward and when the Doctor looked between her and Amy, he found the same expression. "You said you learned from an interface. Can I assume it doesn't work wherever you are?"

Amy checked her watch. "2:23. The garden'll be clear now." She turned to Rory. "Stay or go?"

"Sorry, me?" he pointed at himself. "No, I'm coming with you."

"Then try not to get killed. Or do. Whatever." She brought him out into a garden, the light changing suddenly as they stepped outside. "When I first came here, I had to trick the Interface into giving me the information, but I've reprogrammed it now. It'll tell me anything except how to escape."

"You hacked it? That's genius!"

"Sorry to interrupt," the Doctor said, earning a shove from Adelaide, "but temporal engines like that have a regulator valve. Has to be kept at a distance from the main reactor or there'd be feedback. Interface, where's the regulator?"

A map, in the form of a hologram, appeared before them. "The regulator valve is held within."

"Oh! Very…very…ah!" the Doctor grinned. "Interface, I need to run through some technical specifications. Rory, give us to Amy a minute."

Rory passed the glasses to Amy. "Here you go."

"They look ridiculous."

"That's what I told them." Rory shrugged. "Still, anything beats a fez, eh?" they laughed, but then Amy stopped abruptly. "What is it?"

"I think that's the first time I've laughed in thirty-six years."

Rory cleared his throat. "I'll just, er…leave you three geniuses alone. I'll be back in a minute." Amy watched as he walked off.

"There's still time, Amy," the Doctor said. "There's still time to fix everything."

Amy looked down, keeping the glasses focused on the Interface as she didn't say anything, only for her watch to beep and her to go off running. They found a robot standing over a fallen Rory, looking prepared to fire medicine at him, only for Amy to pull out her sword and slice its head off.

Rory groaned. "Oh…"

Amy fell to the ground beside him. "Rory?"

"Glasses."

Amy stood. "You stupid…"

"Oh…you saved me."

"Don't get used to it."

Rory frowned at Amy. "Have you been crying? A little bit?"

"Shut up, Rory."

"You have, haven't you?"

"Woman with a sword. Don't push it."

Rory raised his hands, making the Doctor laugh. "Okay, so, here's the plan. Time is always a bit wibbly-wobbly, but in Two Streams it's extra wobbly." Amy gave the glasses back to Rory. "I've worked out how to hijack the Temporal Engines and use them to fold two points of Amy's timeline together. We're bringing her out of the then and into the now. Amy, I just need to borrow your brain a minute. It won't hurt, probably…almost probably…and then, Amy Pond, I'm going to save you."

Amy pulled out her sonic probe. "No, time's up. Handbots coming." She stormed off, but Rory hurried after her as they returned to the engine room.

"Amy, you've got to help us help you. We need you to think back thirty-six years ago. Amy? Amy!"

Amy shut the doors in Rory's face, but he raised the Time Glass to look at the markings that Amy had, undoubtedly, left decades before: 'Doctor, Adelaide, I'm here'. "You told her to leave us a sign. And she did. And she waited. Oh, Amy," he entered the room after her, "why won't you help yourself?"

"They want to rescue past me from thirty-six years back, which means I'll cease to exist. Everything I've seen and done dissolves. Time is rewritten."

"That's…that's good, isn't it?"

Amy turned. "I will die. Another Amy will take my place. An Amy who never got trapped at Two Streams, an Amy who grew old with you, and she, in thirty-six years, won't be me."

"But you'll die in here!"

"Not if you take me with you. You came to rescue me, so rescue me."

"Leave her and take you?"

"It is possible to take this Amy," Adelaide said quietly, "but if we do, our Amy will have to wait thirty-six years to be rescued."

"So I have to choose; which wife do I want?"

"She is me," Amy said. "We're both me."

"You being here is wrong. For a single day, an hour, let alone a lifetime. I swore to protect you, I promised." Amy just walked through the curtain.

"Rory," the Doctor said.

"This is your fault," Rory said.

Adelaide shook her head. "Our fault." She wasn't going to let the Doctor take the fall for this, not when it had been her to sonic the glass and tell Amy to go into the facility. She should have thought more, she should have considered it more. She should have known not to trust the Doctor with something like this. "I'm sorry…"

"No, this is your fault!" Rory snapped, interrupting her. "You two should look in a history book one in a while, see if there's an outbreak of plague or not."

The Doctor looked down. "That is not how I travel."

"Then I do not want to travel with you!" he ripped off the glasses, throwing them to the ground but, thankfully, not breaking them.

Adelaide looked down too. "Normally I check history before I step out onto a strange planet," she mumbled. "But while traveling with you…I stopped."

"This isn't your fault."

"It is our fault, Doctor." She looked to him. "Whatever you may want to do, I will not let you blame yourself for what has happened to Amy." She looked back to the monitor, listening to the sound that had to be the past Amy crying. "Rory, I believe the Time Glass is still on," she called, "and the link is active. We can hear the other Amy."

There was a pause before Rory sighed. "Oh, Amy." And another, longer one. "Look me in the face and say you won't help her."

They heard Amy move. "I will not help her."

"Okay…okay, look me in the face and say it now."

"Rory?" the past Amy called, her accent distinctly different from the present Amy. "Rory, is that you? Rory, where are you?"

"Same place as you, and a bit ahead."

Amy stepped a bit closer. "I remember this," she mumbled.

"But who's she?" the other Amy asked. "There's no one else here, but…me?"

The image shifted as Rory picked up the glasses and left the room, leaving the two Amy's to speak. Adelaide, just in case they'd be able to hear the conversation, stepped forward and flicked it off. "We're not going to intrude," she told the Doctor, speaking sharper than she'd intended, though she didn't apologize.

"Amy's become you."

She looked over at him. "I haven't lost all of my faith in you saving me."

"But she's more like you now."

She knew what he meant.

She smiled. "A sign she likes me more than you." He pouted. "Oh, don't be a child."

"I'm very good at being a child."

She turned as she saw something in the corner of her eye, looking to see the older Amy standing in front of Rory, looking determined. They didn't hear what she said, but it was clear that she kissed him before hugging and Adelaide put a hand over the Doctor's eyes to keep him from spying.

|C-S|

"Okay, Doctor, Adelaide, Two Streams is back on air," the older Amy said as she brought them through the facility. "Right, okay, so this is big news. This is temporal earthquake time. I am now officially changing my own future. Hold on to your spectacles. In my past, I saw my future self refuse to help you. I'm now changing that future and agreeing. Every law of time says that shouldn't be possible."

The Doctor shrugged. "Yes, except sometimes knowing your own future's what enables you to change it." He chuckled. "Especially if you're bloody minded, contradictory, and completely unpredictable."

"So, basically if you're Amy, then?"

"Yes, if anyone could defeat pre-destiny, it's your wife."

Amy glanced back at them. "It's not about what I'm doing, but who I'm doing it for. I'm trusting you to watch my back, Rory."

He nodded. "Always. You and me, always."

"Because here's the deal; you take me too. In the TARDIS. Me too."

"But that means that there'll be two of you. Permanently. Forever."

Amy nodded. "And that way we both get to live."

"Two Amys together…can that work?"

The Doctor shrugged, though his jaw was tight. "I don't know. It's your marriage."

"Doctor."

"Perhaps…maybe…if I shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, re-calibrated the Doomsday bumpers and jettisoned the karaoke bar, yes." He looked at Adelaide, nodding at her so that she knew for certain that he was lying, that it wasn't possible. "Maybe. Yes. I could do it. The TARDIS could sustain the paradox."

"Right…Amy and Amy." Rory held up the glass to see the past Amy. "The wife and the wife. Right…right."

"Okay." The Doctor swallowed and was very thankful that Adelaide wasn't interrupting him, trying to stop him from tricking the humans into helping them save Amy. "Amy, Past Amy, stand by the door. Future Amy, you too. Future Amy, can we borrow your sonic scr- probe."

Amy smiled. "It's a screwdriver; not a pen, sorry."

"Rory, sonic it, double our power." Rory did that before tossing it back to Amy. "Amy Now, you're our link to Amy Then. We need to get a signal through, and that signal will be a thought. Amy Now and Amy Then, share a thought. Something so powerful that it can rip through time. Rory, sonic the plinth front. Inside you'll find three levers and a jumble of wiring. That's the regulator valve. After we re-route it, you have ten minutes to get back to the TARDIS."

Rory nodded. "Okay."

"Pull the red and green receptors. Re-route the blue into the red, and the green into blue. Leave the red loose and, on no account, touch anything yellow." Rory did what the Doctor said, but stared at them. "Come on, Rory. It's hardly rocket science. IT's just quantum physics."

"Manners, Doctor."

"Yes, right. Blue into red and then green."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Now, the levers. Throw them in order."

"And Amys," Adelaide added, having determined the Doctor's plan without actually speaking about it, and was thus making a bit of a gamble, "you need to start thinking of the most important thought you've ever had. Just hold it in your head and not let it go."

"Lever one."

"Macarena. Macarena," both Amys spoke in unison, swaying a bit.

"She's doing the Macarena."

"Macarena. Macarena."

"Our first kiss."

The Time Lords didn't look at each other at that thought. "Lever two, Rory." A faint image of the past Amy began to appear in front of the older Amy. "Lever three."

The Time Glass shattered and made several sparks fly in the TARDIS, though the Doctor pulled Adelaide back to keep her from getting harmed. "Oh, Amy!" Rory called, and both Amys looked over at him.

"Oh, my God," Amy Then said at the same time as Amy Now."

Rory hurried forward and hugged Amy Then tightly, leaving Amy Now watching, before he stepped back. "Sorry."

"Hello," Amy Now said, smiling.

"Hello!"

"I don't know what to…" they spoke at once, stopping when they realized.

Rory shook his head. "Weird."

"Okay, this is weird…" the two kept speaking in unison. "Right, just stop doing that."

"How about Amy One speaks first?"

"Which one's Amy One?"

"Well…"

"I am! No, I am. Rory? Rory…just stop doing that."

The monitor sparked again, the image the Time Lords had going blurry. "Rory, take the glasses off. You're getting temporal feedback." Rory pulled off the glasses as the console sparked, throwing them to the ground. "Whoa! Calm down, dear."

"We've created a massive paradox and the TARDIS doesn't like it," Adelaide explained for the three humans. "I believe she's self-phasing in an attempt to get out of here."

The Doctor rubbed a bit of the console. "What's the nasty Amy done to you? Just calm down, dear. Hang on in there."

"Rory, you have eight minutes left, but you're on your own now."

Just then, there was one final spark, a static sound, and the image vanished.

|C-S|

The Time Lords looked up when they actually heard a scream outside of the TARDIS. Adelaide hurried to the door, leaving the Doctor to work on keeping the TARDIS from trying to run away from the paradox, just as it was opened and Rory entered, carrying an unconscious Amy Then. She helped him set her on the ground, scanning with the Doctor's sonic. "It's just anesthetic; she's going to be fine." She stood and went to the doors, seeing Amy Now at the end of the gallery, running for the TARDIS. "We're sorry," she said, and closed the door, locking it.

Rory leapt to his feet. "What are you doing?"

"We had to lie to her, Rory," Adelaide said, using all of the emotionlessness that the Doctor hated she had. "It's impossible for there to be two Amys in the TARDIS; it's too big of a paradox."

"You can't leave her. She'll die."

Amy Now banged on the door. "Adelaide, Doctor, let me in."

Rory moved towards the door, but Adelaide grabbed his arm. "Once we save Amy," she pointed at the one unconscious on the floor, "this future won't have happened. There'll be no other Amy to save."

"But she happened. She's there."

"I trusted you!"

Adelaide shook her head. "She's not real."

"She is real. Let her in."

She stepped closer. "If we take that Amy, Rory, we will have to leave this one behind. You can't have both, so you're going to have to choose; which do you want?" she let go of his arm, letting it fall onto the latch.

Rory looked between Adelaide and the Doctor. "This isn't fair. You're turning me into you two."

The Doctor shrugged. "Your choice, Rory."

"I…er…"

"Doctor?" Amy Now shouted. "Adelaide?" Adelaide stepped away from Rory, walking back up to the Doctor. "Doctor! Adelaide! Rory, please." Amy Now had pressed her hand against the glass now. "The look on your face when you carried her…me…her. When you carried her away. You used to look at me like that. I'd forgotten how much you loved me. I'd forgotten how much I loved being her. Amy Pond, in the TARDIS, with Rory Williams."

Rory began to turn to lock, pressing his forehead against the door. "I'm sorry, I can't do this.'

"If you love me, don't let me in." He stopped. "Open that door, I will…I'll come in. I don't want to die. I won't bow out bravely. I'll be kicking and screaming, fighting, to the end."

Rory closed his eyes. "Amy…Amy, I love you." The Time Lords stood on opposite sides of the console, not looking at each other, just watching Rory.

"I love you, too. Don't let me in. Tell Amy, your Amy, I'm giving her the days…the days with you. The days to come."

"I'm so, so sorry."

"The days I can't have. Take them, please. I'm giving you my days."

Rory stepped back from the door. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Do not be alarmed," they could hear the robot through the door. "This is a kindness. Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness."

The Time Lords didn't look as they pressed the final buttons on the TARDIS to take them away, not knowing if they managed to leave before the robots reached Amy, or if they were just a few seconds too late.

Rory walked over to the Amy they'd saved, who had yet to wake. "Did you always know it would never work? Saving both Amys?"

"We promised you we'd save her, and there she is. Safe."

He nodded. "Yeah, there she is."

Slowly, Amy woke, and the Doctor stuck his tongue out at her. Adelaide pulled the Doctor back. "We'll leave you alone." She brought him to a different room of the TARDIS, somewhere that would give the husband and wife the privacy they required. "Would we really have failed her so much?"

And even if the Doctor, partially, wanted to lie to Adelaide, to tell her that no, they wouldn't have really, he knew she would see through it. He knew that she would get angry if he lied. "We've abandoned her before when we promised to return. I wouldn't be surprised if she developed an expectation."

She shook her head. "This is why I never had a companion before."

"You never had a companion?"

She looked at him, frowning. "I was a scientist; why would I need one?"

"A lab partner?"

"I preferred to work on my own." She wrapped her arms around herself. "I always have. I always will."

 **A/N: Uh oh, Adelaide's really starting to close off. That cannot be good for their future...**


	21. Demons

**Demons**

Amy rolled her eyes as the Doctor leaned over the railing of the hotel they'd landed in, grinning. "'Let's go to Ravan-Skala', he says. 'The people are six hundred feet tall, meaning you have to talk to them in hot air balloons', she says. 'The Tourist Information Center is made of one of their hats', he says. I'm sorry, but I don't see any huge hats."

The Doctor turned to look at the companions, grinning. "Amy, Beaky, this could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen."

"You're kidding."

Amy shook her head. "How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?"

"Because this isn't Earth," Adelaide said from where she stood beside Amy and Rory, having been watching the Doctor with raised eyebrows. "This has just been made to resemble Earth."

"The craftsmanship involved…" the Doctor ran a hand along the wall next to him. "Can you imagine?"

"What?" Amy frowned. "Then where are we?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Something must have yanked us off course." He hurried down the stairs to where they had left the TARDIS, surrounded by potted plants. "Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" he sniffed one of the leaves, stroking it.

"Right, but who would mock up an Earth hotel?"

The Doctor picked up an apple, ducking away from Adelaide even if she didn't make any motion to take it from him. "Colonists, maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca." He took a bite from the apple. "No, whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle."

Rory walked over to the photos on the wall. "Have you seen these? Look at the labels underneath." He pointed to a Sontaran. "Commander Halke, defeat." A man. "Tim Heath, having his photo taken." A woman. "Lady Silver-Tear, Daleks."

"Paige Barnes, other people's socks," Amy continued as Adelaide touched one of the frames, frowning at it. "Time Nelson, balloons. Novice Prin, saberwolves. Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth. Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla." She glanced at the Time Lords. "What does it mean?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know." He grinned. "Let's find out!" He ran over to the reception desk, which they could see down a hallway, and rang the bell as many times as he could before Adelaide snatched him back. Three people ran around another corner, brandishing a broken chair like a weapon. "Blimey, that was a bit quick."

"We surrender!" one of the three, a Tivolian, said.

"No, it's okay, we're not…" Rory held up his hands. "We're not-"

"We surrender!"

"We're nice!"

The Doctor turned to Adelaide. "She's threatening me with a chair leg!"

"Who are you?" the woman with the broken chair, dressed in hospital scrubs, said.

The final of the three, a young man, groaned. "Oh, God, we're back in reception."

"We surrender!"

The Doctor frowned. "I've never been threatened with a chair leg before…no, hang on, I tell a lie."

Amy turned to Rory. "Did you just say, 'it's okay, we're nice'?"

"Okay, I need everyone to shut up, now!"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at the woman. "A please would be appreciated."

The young man stepped closer to the woman. "Rita, be careful, yeah?"

Rita, however, just stepped forward and examined something. "Their pupils are dilated. They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."

Adelaide and the Doctor grinned in unison, though it was the Time Lady who spoke first. "Very good."

"Amy," the Doctor turned to her, "with regret, you're fired."

"What?"

"I'm kidding." He looked at Rita, mouthing, "we'll talk," and then returned to normal, turning to the Tivolian. "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli."

The Tivolian nodded. "Yes, the most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is 'Glory To Insert-Name-Here'."

"You, with the face…" the Doctor turned to the young man.

"Howie."

"Howie…you said you were surprised to be back in reception."

Howie nodded. "The walls move. Everything changes."

"You, clever one," he pointed at Rita. "What's he talking about?"

"The corridors twist and stretch. Rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive."

The Doctor soniced the music playing in the background, shutting it off. "That's quite enough of that."

"Yeah," Howie added, "and it's huge, with, like, no way out."

"Have you tried the front door?"

"No," Rita said, sarcastically. "In two days it never occurred to us to try the front door. Thank God you're here."

Amy laughed and the Doctor moved over to the doors they could see, scanning them before opening them to reveal the brick wall. "They're not doors, they're walls. Walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or 'dwalls'. 'Woors' even, though you'd probably got it when you said they're not doors. I mean, the windows are…" he pulled back the curtains, revealing more wall. "Right, big day if you're a fan of walls."

"It's not just that. The rooms have things in them," Rita said.

"Things? Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone, not including her," he pointed at Adelaide, "unless you have really nice manners."

"Bad dreams."

His smile fell. "Well, that killed the mood."

Adelaide turned to the group. "How did you get here?"

Rita shrugged. "I don't know. I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out because suddenly I was here."

"I was blogging," Howie said. "Next thing, this."

"Oh, I was at work," the Tivolian said. "I'm in Town Planning. We're lining all the highways with trees so invading forces can march in the shade."

The Doctor nodded. "Ah."

"Which is nice for them."

"Yeah…so, what have we got?" he turned to Adelaide. "People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms…" he pulled a Rubik's Cube from his pocket, "well, apart from anything else, that's just rude." He grinned. "See? I pay attention."

|C-S|

The Doctor bounced back to where they'd left the TARDIS. "We'll pop back to the TARDIS, I'll actually let Adelaide do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, and then we'll have a sing-song."

Amy frowned, looking around the room. "Where's the TARDIS? You parked it there, didn't you?"

"What's a TARDIS?"

Rory sighed. "Our way out. And it's gone."

The Doctor looked up as the music started up again. "Okay, this is bad. At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk, and eight quid in a taxi from good."

Adelaide looked at Rita. "Is there anyone else here?"

"Joe, but he's tied up right now."

The Doctor frowned. "Doing what?"

"No, I mean he's tied up right now."

"There'd best be a good reason," Adelaide said, crossing her arms.

|C-S|

Rita brought them to the dining room of the hotel, though the Doctor and Adelaide entered the room first. There was a man tied to the chair and surrounded by various ventriloquist dummies, which were all nodding their heads and laughing at him.

Adelaide walked over to him, the Doctor by her side. "Hello, Joe. I'm Adelaide, this is the Doctor."

"We're going to die here," Joe said, sounding dazed.

"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure." The Doctor bent down to be at Joe's eye level. "Is Joe there? Can we have a quick word?"

"Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon he shall feast."

"You've been here for two days," Adelaide said. "Why is he waiting?"

"We weren't ready. We were still raw."

"And now you're…cooked?"

Joe nodded. "If you like. Soon you will be, too. Be patient. First…find your room."

"My…room?"

"There's a room here for everyone, Doctor. Even you."

She raised her eyebrows. "You said that you'd 'seen the light'."

"Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things…" he looked at the dummies. "I used to hate them. They make me laugh now." He laughed. "Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!" all of the dummies joined in, but Joe stopped suddenly. "You should go. He'll be here soon."

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide before grabbing a luggage trolley from nearby, pushing it under Joe's chair. "I think you should come with us."

|C-S|

Once they'd returned to reception, Howie, the Tivolian, and Joe were on one side on the desk with everyone else on the other side. The Doctor eyed the original four. "Why you four? That's what I don't understand…aside from all the other things I don't understand."

"What does it matter?" the Tivolian asked. "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."

"First," the Doctor said, cutting off the Tivolian, "we find the TARDIS."

"Before we go," Adelaide said, "ensure someone else can see you at all times and, if you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in or near it."

"Joe said 'he will feast'. Is there something here with us?" Rita asked them.

Joe laughed, and the Doctor looked at him. "Something to add, Joe?"

"'Here comes a candle to light you to bed. Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop.'"

Howie grimaced. "Can we do something about him?"

|C-S|

The Time Lords led the way with the rest of them following, though Joe now had his mouth taped shut. "Personally, I think you've got the right idea," the Tivolian said to Joe, who he was pushing. "Times like this, I think of my old school motto; 'Resistance is Exhausting'."

Howie, who was walking next to Rory, turned to him. "I've worked out where we are."

"Hmm?"

"Norway."

"Norway?"

He nodded. "You see, the U.S. government has entire cities hidden in the Norwegian mountains. You see, Earth is on a collision course with this other planet, and this is where they're going to send all the rich people when it kicks off."

"Amazing."

"It's all there on the internet."

Rory shook his head. "No, it's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's actually happening."

"Manners," Adelaide called back, almost instinctively, and immediately cursed herself.

A man, dressed like a PE teacher, stepped out of one of the rooms. "Hello!" the Doctor said, waving.

"Have you forgotten your PE kit again? Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!" he walked back into the room, shutting the door.

Adelaide turned, just seeing Howie out of the corner of her eye. "Howie! Don't!"

The Doctor, who was closest, tried to push Howie out of the way, but not soon enough for him to not open the door, revealing a group of women laughing at him. "Oh, look, girls," one of them said, "it's H-H-H-Howie!"

"What's loser in K-K-K-Klingon?" another said.

Howie stumbled away from the door. "Shut the d-d-th-the door." The Doctor closer it. "This is just some m-m-messed up CIA stuff, I-I-I'm telling you."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around Howie's shoulders. "You're right. Keep telling yourself that. It's a CIA thing, nothing more."

|C-S|

"I don't like this," the Doctor whispered to Adelaide, stepping closer to her as he scanned the hall.

"Just be careful." She leaned over to see the readings. "Don't look in your room."

"And don't look in yours." The Doctor, with a small smile, tapped Adelaide on the nose before stepping away.

Rory bent down to tie his shoes and then looked up, frowning. "Er…guys?"

"Look," Amy said, walking over to the Time Lords, but was interrupted by a roar that echoed down the halls. "Okay, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?"

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide. "No…no, I'm sure it isn't, but just in case, let's run away and hide anyway." He opened a random door. "In here." They all ran in, though Rita dragged Joe into a separate room.

"No, this way!" Rory called, not following. "I've found a…"

"Rory, come on!"

"There was a…"

"Come on!"

Rory ran into the room but stopped when he saw what was already there, which made the Time Lords turn to look. "Eek!" the Doctor said as he nearly ran right into a Weeping Angel.

"Don't blink," Amy warned.

"What?"

The lights flickered and Adelaide grabbed the Doctor's arm instinctually. "Amy," the Doctor said, "get back."

Adelaide managed to focus enough to frown. "Why haven't they gotten us yet?" She reached forward and brushed a hand through one of them. "They're not real."

"What?" Amy frowned.

"If they were real, they would have gotten us by now."

The Doctor turned, grabbing Amy's arms. "Amy, look at me. Focus on me. It's your bad dream, that's all."

"I don't even think they're for us," Rory said as the Tivolian screamed, slamming the door to the cupboard he was hiding in. Something roared from the hallway again, this time sounding like it was actually right outside the door.

Slowly, the Doctor approached the door, with Adelaide standing a step behind him. "Doctor," Amy asked them, "what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, I just have to see what it is. I just have to see." He moved to look through the peephole. "Oh, look at you. Oh, you are beautiful." He stepped back, letting Adelaide look through.

But she stepped back almost immediately. "It's going after Joe."

"Come on, come to me!" Joe shouted. "Come to me! Praise him!" He screamed and the Time Lords ran into the room with just enough time to see Joe being dragged away.

"Leave him alone!" the Doctor ran after him and Adelaide actually had to stop herself from following him because she wanted to.

And she didn't know if it was because they were the last Time Lords or if they were friends or if there was something else because she barely knew anything anymore. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to follow the Doctor but knew she shouldn't because he'd already run out of sight and she knew that she'd get lost attempting to follow him.

But she wanted to follow him because she didn't want him to be in danger, even if she knew that he could take care of himself.

She wanted him to be safe.

But she didn't want to want that.

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide stood on either side of Joe's body, scanning it.

"If we can wedge a chair under the door handles, that should stop anything from getting in," Rory offered since he and Howie were working on blocking the doors.

"Help yourself to tea," Rita called, carrying a tray. "Guys, tea over here."

"If it's any consolation," Amy said to the Tivolian, "I've met the Weeping Angels, so I know how. In fact, I thought that room was for me."

"Joe was right. Whatever is in here, it actually wants to kill us. Not oppress us or enslave us, kill us!"

"Listen," Amy walked a bit closer to him. "The Doctor and Adelaide have been part of my life for so long now, and they've never let me down. Even when I thought they had, when I was a kid and he left me, she made him come back. They saved me. And now they're going to save you. But don't tell them I said that because his smugness would be terrifying."

The Tivolian shrugged. "Of course, if the Weeping Angels were meant for me, then your room is still out there somewhere."

Rory walked over to Amy, nodding at how Rita was walking over to the Time Lords. "Every time the Doctor gets pally with someone, I have this overwhelming urge to notify their next of kin." He laughed and then flinched. "Sorry, the last time I said something like that, you hit me with your shoe. And you literally had to sit down and unlace it first, so it was surprising Adelaide didn't stop you.

Rita stepped up next to the Doctor. "What exactly happened to him?"

The Doctor studied his sonic. "He died."

"You are a medical doctor, aren't you? You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something."

Adelaide laughed, but the Doctor looked slightly offended. "No! Well…yes, both, actually." He nodded at Adelaide. "But she's an actual qualified scientist."

She shook her head. "There's no cause of death; all his vital organs just stopped."

"As if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just taken…" the Doctor frowned at the tea Rita handed him "and this is a cup of tea."

Rita shrugged. "Of course, I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting."

"But how did you make it?"

Rita exchanged a look with Adelaide. "All hotels should have a well-stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones. I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mine."

"Which is?" she prompted.

"This is Jahannam."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "You're a Muslim."

"Don't be frightened."

"Ha! You think this is Hell." He spat the tea he'd just taken a drink of back into the cup.

"Manners," Adelaide said.

Rita looked around the room. "The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though."

"And all these fears and phobias wandering about, most are completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?"

She shrugged. "Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike."

"Ha! I like you. You're a right clever clogs; nothing like Adelaide, but…"

Adelaide lowered her cup of tea. "Doctor…"

He coughed. "But this isn't Hell, Rita."

"You don't understand," Rita shook her head. "I say that without fear. Jahannam will play its tricks, and there'll be times when I want to run and scream, but I've tried to live a good life, and that knowledge keeps me sane, despite the monsters and bonkers rooms." She went quiet and even Adelaide eyed her about how impossibly calm she sounded about the entire situation. "Gibbis is an alien, isn't he?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Okay. I'm going to file that under 'freak out about later'."

Amy walked over to them, holding out a collection of paper. "Doctor, Adelaide, look at this. I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it." The Doctor tapped Amy's head before leaning his elbows on the table to read it, Adelaide leaning beside him, their arms touching.

"Er…'My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realize it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others, and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him.'"

"Praise him," Howie said, making Adelaide look at him sharply.

"What did you just say?"

His eyes widened. "Nothing…praise him!" he clamped a hand over his mouth.

Gibbis, the Tivolian, backed away from him. "You'll lead it right here!"

"We won't leave you," the Doctor told him, holding out a hand. "I promise you, you have my word on that."

"I don't want to get eaten!"

"Calm down!" Amy tried.

"He's going to lead the creature right here!"

"Hold it!" the Doctor, grabbing Adelaide's sonic, pressed the two together to create a very high-pitched sonic sound, quieting everyone instantly. "Thank you."

"Don't you see?" Gibbis said, not deterred. "He'll lead it right here!"

Rita turned to him. "What do you suggest?"

"Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Now, tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying if it were to find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go. All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed. Is that too much to ask?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at him. "I believe the letter the Doctor just read made it quite clear that the rest of us will not just be 'let go' once it makes a meal of Howie."

"Adelaide…"

She held up a finger to the Doctor, stepping closer to Gibbis. "Your civilization is one of the oldest in the galaxy and, once, I admired that. But then I visited you. I saw who you were and this, today, has just proven my conclusion from all those centuries ago. You're not cowards; you know exactly what you're doing. Evolution has let you stay in the background and let others die in your name." She sighed. "Did you know, when I first determined that, I admired that even more because you were the perfect predators. But now…now I'm not going to let anyone die today because of your false cowardice. I'm not going to make you a murderer again."

Adelaide wasn't going to let herself become a murderer again. She was going to try, for once.

She backed up again, turning to Howie. "Howie, it's likely going to attempt to possess you again and, when that happens, the Doctor and I are going to ask you some questions," she gestured for the Doctor to come up beside her. "Try your hardest to answer them."

"I hope my mum's alright," Howie said as he sat again. "She's going to be w-worried." He smiled, beginning to sway.

 **A/N: The Tivoli do strike a cord in Adelaide, don't they?**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Starangel5593: Glad you enjoyed them :)_


	22. Gods

**Gods**

"Howie? Howie…Howie, you're next." The Doctor glanced at Adelaide to ensure she was fine with him speaking, but she seemed to be willing to observe the reactions while he asked the questions. "We're all dead jealous. So, tell us. How do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"

"You guys have got all these distractions, all these obstacles." He tapped his head. "It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know? Clear the path."

Amy frowned. "You want it to find you even though you know what it's going to do?"

"Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all. How cool is that?"

The entire group moved away from the table, leaving Howie sitting there, so that they could talk without him hearing. "It's as I thought," the Doctor said, rubbing his eyes. "It feeds on fear. Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, has been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist. Do whatever you have to. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give in to the fear."

"Okay, but what are we actually going to do?"

He grinned. "We're going to catch ourselves a monster."

Adelaide touched the Doctor's arm. "May I speak with you?" He nodded and they stepped back. "I don't think it just wants to frighten us. That's too simple."

"Then what?"

She shook her head. "I haven't decided yet. Just…be careful, Doctor, please."

He grinned. "Aren't I always?"

She just raised her eyebrows at him.

|C-S|

"Bring me death! Bring me glory!" Howie shouted. "My master, my lord, I'm here! Come to me. I'm waiting here for you!"

The Doctor gave a thumbs up to Adelaide as he spotted her repositioning a mirror.

"He promised me a glorious death. Give it to me now. I want him to know my devotion. Praise him!" they could hear something scraping along the beams. "Praise him!"

The door opened and the monster, a minotaur according to the Doctor, stepped inside, though the door slammed shut a second later and Amy and Rita jammed it shut.

"Rory, he's in!" Amy called.

The Doctor turned off the light, making the minotaur stumble through the room.

"Let his name be the last thing I hear. Let his breath on my skin be the last thing I feel. I was lost in the shadows, but he found me."

The minotaur growled as it realized Howie wasn't actually in the room, instead speaking through a speaker.

"His love was a beacon that led me from darkness to light, and now I am blinded by his majesty. Humbled by his glory! Praise-"

"That's quite enough of that," the Doctor soniced the speaker off.

"…him."

He turned to the minotaur. "Nothing personal, I just think we should take things slowly. Get to know each other. You take people's most primal fears and pop it in a room. A tailor-made hell, just for them. Why?" the minotaur growled, and the Doctor frowned, glancing at Adelaide, but she could only shrug; she didn't know that language off the top of her head. "Did you say…'they take'? Ah, what is that word? The 'guard'? No, the 'warden'? This is a prison."

She raised her eyebrows. "Joe said that we weren't ready. Is that what you do? You…" she looked at the Doctor for a translation.

"'Replace'."

"Replace what? Fear?"

"You have lived so long, even your name is lost? You want this to stop…because you are just instinct. Then tell us. Tell us how to fight you."

"My master, my lord!" Howie shouted from the hallway. "I'm here! Oh, bring me death!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" the minotaur shattered the glass, moving towards the door. "Rory, watch out!" Amy and Rita ran into the room behind them. "Stay back!" the minotaur shattered the door and ran from the room. "Pond, bring the fish!" the Time Lords ran from the room. "Where'd he go?"

Rory rubbed his head as he woke, grimacing. "Somebody hit me. Was it Amy?"

The Doctor ran off through the hotel, leaving Adelaide to ensure the rest of the humans returned to the reception.

Rita knelt beside Rory. "Rory, are you alright?"

Amy looked to Adelaide. "We should find the Doctor."

"You're not going to get lost in this hotel." But Amy didn't seem to hear her since she turned towards one of the rooms and opened it, just a crack, before Adelaide snatched her back. "Don't open doors," she reminded Amy, but then frowned. "What did you see?"

Amy shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing. I don't know. It was weird."

|C-S|

Adelaide walked up to the Doctor as he looked at a picture of Howie that had appeared, the Doctor having found his body. "Have you found your room yet?" he asked her.

"I don't intend to."

Rory came up on the Doctor's other side. "Is it good or bad that I haven't found mine yet?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe you're not scared of anything."

"Well, after all the time I spent with you two in the TARDIS, what was left to be scared of?"

Adelaide frowned at him. "Past tense."

"What? No, I didn't." He looked at the pictures again. "You know, Howie had been in speech therapy. He'd just got over this massive stammer. What an achievement. I mean, can you imagine?" he shook his head. "I'd forgotten not all victories are about saving the universe."

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide had just reached the stairs when Rita walked up to them, making the Doctor grin. "Rita! Brilliant! How are you? Not panicking, are you? Good, good. Because we are literally an otter's toenail away from getting us out of here."

"Why?"

"Excellent question. Excellent question." The Doctor kept walking and then paused. "Why what?"

"Why is it up to you to save us? That's quite a God complex you have there."

The Doctor looked down. "We brought them here. They'd say it was their choice but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they'll take it. Offer someone all of time and space and they'll take that, too. Which is why you shouldn't. Which is why grown-ups," he gestured at Adelaide, "were invented."

"I'm not a grown-up," she reminded him.

"Slightly more than I am."

Rita studied them. "All of time and space, eh?"

The Doctor grinned. "Oh, yeah. And when we get out of this, we'll show you too."

"I don't know what you're talking about but, whatever it was, I have a feeling you just did it again."

Adelaide, who'd been looking around the room, touched the Doctor's shoulder. "Found it." They, after nodding to Rita, moved up the stairs, not hearing what Rita said as they walked away.

She looked towards the camera. "Praise him."

|C-S|

The Time Lords hurried through the corridors, attempting to find the security room, when the Doctor pause. Adelaide stopped a few steps ahead of him, turning to look back, and watched as his gaze turned to the door beside him, Room 11.

"Doctor…" she said. "Don't."

He took a step closer. "Just a quick look."

"No."

He rested a hand on the doorknob. "Just a peak."

"Please. It's not worth it."

"Just a look."

She grabbed his arm. "Doctor, I don't care if that creature doesn't want to do this anymore; his instinct is more powerful than his will. If you open that door, it's highly possible, almost guaranteed, that you will become his next target. And I am not about to stand back and watch that happen."

"You never promised."

She sighed. "We are not going to discuss this right now, Doctor. Don't abandon me."

"Then don't abandon me."

Adelaide tensed her jaw, but she didn't let go of him. "I am not going to let you open that door."

"I'm not going to let you go to Lake Silencio."

"Then we have agreed. I'm not going to let you open that door and you're not going to let me go to Lake Silencio. So step away."

The Doctor didn't move away. "Aren't you curious?" he whispered. "About what's in your room?"

"I have a guess. And we both know my guesses are usually right." She nodded towards Room 11. "I also have a guess about what's in your room, so, if you'd like, I'd be happy to tell you."

He, without breaking eye contact, slipped a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on it. "Let's go find the cameras."

Adelaide stepped back, finally letting go of his arm. "Let's find the cameras."

The Doctor nodded and they continued down the hallway, though the moment before they turned the corner the Doctor glanced back at the room, even if he didn't walk back to it.

They found the door marked 'Security' and walked in to see a wall of monitors. "Oh, you beauty," the Doctor said, grinning. "Come on, big fellow, where are you?"

Adelaide frowned. "What is Rita doing?" Rita paused as she walked and looked into one of the rooms, glancing at the camera before walking inside. She picked up the phone, calling the room, and watched Rita pick it up. "What are you doing? Can I presume the phone is long enough to reach into the corridor?" Rita walked back into the corridor and Adelaide put the phone on speaker.

"You started to praise it, didn't you?" the Doctor asked. Rita nodded. "Rita, come back, please. We'll find a way to stop it, we swear to you."

Rita knelt. "No, I need to get as far away from you all as possible."

"The creature only wants the one praising it."

"And then one of you will put yourself in its way."

The Doctor shook his head. "We're coming to get you. Block out the fear and stay focused on your belief."

"The hotel will keep us apart. I could be fifty miles away by now." The creature growled, and they could see the creature in another monitor. "I want you to do me one last favor, Doctor, Adelaide. I can feel the rapture approaching, like a wave. I don't want you to witness it. I want you to remember me the way I was."

"What's going on?" Amy said, her and Rory entering the room. "Rita's disappeared." She frowned at the monitor. "What's she doing there?"

The Doctor gripped the side of the table. "Rita, Rita, please. Let us find you."

"You stay where you are. Please, let me be robbed of my faith in private."

"Look, Rita, Rita, go into the room. Lock the door."

Rita shook her head. "I'm not frightened. I'm blessed, Doctor. I'm at peace. I'm going to hang up."

"No, no, no, Rita."

"Goodbye."

"Rita!"

"Thank you for trying."

"Rita, please! Please! Please!" Adelaide touched the Doctor's shoulder as he shouted, but he shook her off, stepping away from her and sonicing the monitor from a distance.

|C-S|

Adelaide winced every time the Doctor smashed another thing as she stood near the bodies. He was angry, she knew that, she was angry too, she just wasn't smashing anything because of it. Eventually, she did stand and attempt to get him to calm down, though that only resulted in him shouting at her.

She waited until he was done, leaning against a table and breathing hard - an image that reminded her far too much of his last regeneration - before she stepped forward again.

"There are still three other living people here, Doctor, that we still need to save. Now, either I am going to do it alone or you're going to help me. Which one would you like to choose?"

The Doctor swallowed hard, straightened, and walked past her to where the other three were waiting. Adelaide followed without saying anything.

"Okay," the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. "It preys on people's fear and possesses them. But Rita wasn't afraid. She was brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell us how to fight it."

Gibbis rolled his eyes. "Yes, you keep saying that, but you never do. And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next."

"Look, they'll work it out," Amy told him. "They always do. Just let her think and move anything expensive out of his way."

Adelaide's eyes widened and she touched the Doctor's shoulder, making him turn to her as he seemed to have the same idea. "Oh no," he breathed. "Oh, no, no."

"What's wrong?"

"It's not fear," he began. "It's faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something."

Adelaide nodded. "Howard believed in conspiracies, something controlling the world. Joe believed in luck; he was a gambler, so a force that helped him win or lose. Gibbis has lost all personal autonomy and just wants someone to tell him what to do. But they all believed there was something guiding them and that's what it was replacing. When confronted with a primal fear, people fall back on their fundamental faith."

"And all this time, I have been telling you to dig deep, find the thing that keeps you brave." The Doctor looked around the group. "I made you expose your faith, show them what they needed."

Rory frowned. "But why us? Why are we here?"

"It doesn't want you. That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on. It wants her." The Doctor pointed to Amy.

"Me? Why?"

"Your faith in us," Adelaide explained. "More specifically, your faith in the Doctor. It's why we were brought here."

"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping it?"

"It converts the faith into the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live."

"Which is why, at the end of her note, Lucy said…"

"Praise him."

"Exactly."

Rory shook his head, standing. "No. Oh, please, no."

The creature roared.

|C-S|

The creature chased them through the hotel, even if Adelaide knew that running, in the end, wouldn't do anything to stop the creature from finding them.

Especially when Amy stopped and turned to face it.

"Amy?" the Doctor asked. "What are you doing?"

The creature appeared at the end of the corridor. "He is beautiful."

"Leave her! Just leave her!"

The Doctor and Rory grabbed Amy's arms and pulled her after them, leaving Adelaide to lead the way, directing them into a random room.

Only she immediately regretted it, since inside a young Amelia Pond sat on a suitcase staring out the window, watching the stars. Rory moved to hold the door shut, and Amy fell to her knees.

"Doctor, Adelaide, it's happening. It's changing me. It's changing my thoughts."

The Doctor knelt beside her, with Adelaide standing on the other side. "We can't save you from this. There's nothing we can do to stop this."

"What?"

"I stole your childhood, and now I've led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is, I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens." The creature burst into the room, and the Doctor grabbed Amy's hands. "Forget your faith in us, in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you. Glorious Pond, the girl who waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a madman in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are." The creature stumbled back into the hall. "Amy Williams, it's time to stop waiting."

The lights flickered, and Adelaide walked to the creature's side, kneeling next to it, though the Doctor followed and went to its other side. "We've severed the food supply by sacrificing their faith. We gave you the space to die."

The room dissolved and left them in a dark room with an instrument panel a few steps away.

"What is it, a minotaur or an alien?" Amy asked, standing. "Or an alien minotaur? That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning."

"Technically, it's both." Adelaide stood, moving to the database and leaving the Doctor by the creature's side. "Distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and make themselves gods to be worshipped, which does work, for a time, until the inhabitants get advanced enough to build prisons."

"Correction," Rory said, having gone to look out a window. "Prisons in space."

"Where are the guards?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No need for any. It's all automated. It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature." He stood, walking over to read what Adelaide was looking at, and Amy walked over too.

"It didn't want just me, so you two must believe in some god or someone, or they'd have shown you the door too. So what do Time Lords pray to?"

He cleared his throat. "According to the in-flight recorder, the program developed glitches. It got stuck on the same setting, the fears from the people before us weren't tidied away."

The creature growled and the Time Lords turned back to it, though Amy jumped. "What's it saying?"

"'An ancient creature,'" the Doctor translated, "'drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift.'" He reached out and put a hand on the creature's arm. "Then accept it, and sleep well." He stood, turning to Adelaide, but the creature growled again.

That time, even Adelaide could translate it. "'I wasn't talking about myself.'" She looked to the Doctor, nodded, and walked towards where the TARDIS was, sitting a bit away.

"Could I have a lift?" Gibbis asked as Rory walked to Amy, embracing her, and walked to the TARDIS. "Just to the nearest galaxy would do."

|C-S|

The Time Lords stepped out of the TARDIS onto the suburban street, Amy and Rory right after them, and forced smiles.

"Don't tell me," Amy said, sighing. "This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house, and inside lives a goblin who feeds on indecision."

"Nope. Real Earth, real house," the Doctor threw keys to Amy, "real door keys."

Amy's eyes widened. "You're not serious?"

Rory's mouth dropped open and he pointed to the car sitting in front of the home with the TARDIS blue door. "The car too? But…that's my favorite car. How did you know that was my favorite car?"

"You showed me a picture of it once and said 'this is my favorite car'," he threw Rory some keys.

"Rory, can you give us two minutes? Two minutes?"

Rory wrapped an arm around the Doctor, pulling him away for a moment. "She'll say that we can't accept it because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation." He glanced back at the car. "It's a risk I'm willing to take." He hurried off towards the house, leaving the time Lords and Amy.

Amy leaned against the bonnet of the car, patting spots on either side of her, and the Time Lords took them. "Hey. So…you're leaving, aren't you?"

"You haven't seen the last of us. Bad Penny is my middle name!" He shook his head. "Seriously, the looks I get, mainly from Adelaide, when I fill in a form, it's-"

"Why now?"

Adelaide sighed. "Because you're still breathing."

"Well, I think this is about the washing up, personally."

He laughed and pushed off of the car, moving back towards the TARDIS, with Adelaide moving in unison. "I mean, you're right, there's still heaps of stuff out there to look at. Do you know, there's a planet whose name literally translates as Volatile Circus? Or maybe, there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there." He nodded back towards the home Rory had gone into, and they stopped at the entrance to the TARDIS.

Amy glanced over her shoulder. "Even so, it can't happen like this. After everything we've been through…you can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we've shared a cab."

"And what's the alternative? Us standing over your grave? Over your broken body? Over Rory's body?"

Amy nodded and, after a moment, gave the Doctor a hug. "If you bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime." She turned and hugged Adelaide too.

"And look after him."

She raised her eyebrows. "Look after you." The Time Lords opened the TARDIS, and Amy waved, crying. "Bye."

They stepped inside, and left, saving the humans.

And soon, Adelaide was going to save the Doctor.

Even if he didn't want her too.

 **A/N: Always wondered exactly what the Doctor prays to. And what was in his room. If only Adelaide were real and could tell us ;)**

 _Starangel5593: Sadly, we won't, but she clearly has some guesses._

 _lautaro94: They really do need to talk, but they always have. I'm glad you're looking forward to the Night Season; I might post a sneak peak soon, but what I'll say now is that it starts with Dalek_ _and someone's keeping a secret ;)_

 _Lizzy B: Glad you like her!_


	23. Tired

**Tired**

The door flew open and Craig stepped out, shouting, "I'm coping on my own!"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Do you normally randomly assume who is going to be at your door?"

"Hello, Craig," the Doctor grinned. "We're back."

Craig eyed them. "She didn't…how could she phone you?"

"No one phoned us, Craig."

The Doctor looked past Craig, studying the home behind him. "Oh, you've redecorated. I don't like it."

"It's a different house. We moved."

"Yes, that's it."

Craig eyed them both. "Doctor, Adelaide, what are you doing here?"

"Social call. Adelaide thought it was time I tried one out. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

The Doctor looked at Adelaide. "This is the bit where I say I'm fine too, isn't it?" she nodded and Craig finally seemed to notice how…tired both of them looked. "I'm fine, too, and Adelaide's fine. Good. Love to Sophie. Bye!" he turned to leave and Adelaide grabbed his shoulder to stop, not only because it was rude to leave but also because she'd just spotted the lights flickering.

"Something's wrong," she told the Doctor, making the man smile despite himself.

The Time Lord spun and pushed past Craig, running up the stairs. Adelaide, as Craig ran after him, closed the door behind both of them. "On your own, you said. But you're not. You're not on your own!"

"Just shush!" Craig tried.

"Increased Sulphur emissions. And look at the state of this place! What are you not telling us?"

"Doctor, please!" He looked to Adelaide for help, but she'd already gone into the sitting room, frowning at the mess, because she was almost certain that Craig wasn't in danger since she, unlike the Doctor, had already done a scan of his home so that they wouldn't have a repeat of last time.

"Shush!"

"No, you shush!"

"Shush!"

"Shush!"

"No, you shush!"

"You sound like children!" Adelaide called up, hanging from the doorway.

"Shush!" She raised her eyebrows at Craig, but then the man spun on the Doctor. "Doctor!" he ran into the room the Doctor had just run into and Adelaide could still hear them from where she was.

"Whatever you are, get off this planet!"

A baby started to cry and Adelaide winced.

For future reference, she really needed to check the recent personal history of the person they were visiting.

And then she winced again for thinking about the future at all.

|C-S|

The Doctor looked around the kitchen as Craig bounced his son and Adelaide leaned against the counter. "I'm terribly sorry, Craig, I forgot that when someone says they're on their own, they can mean…"

"Yes, I meant on my own with the baby, yes. Because no one thinks I can cope on my own. Which is so unfair, because…I can't cope on my own with him. I can't! He just cries all the time. I mean, do they have off switches?"

"Humans?" Adelaide asked. "No, I've checked." The Doctor looked at her. "I studied many species."

Craig frowned at her. "No, babies."

"Same answer."

"Sometimes this works though." The Doctor turned to the baby and put a finger to his lips. "Shush."

The baby quieted and Craig looked at him in shock. "Can you teach me to do that?"

"Probably not."

"Oh, please, come on, I need something. I'm rubbish at this."

The Doctor frowned. "At what?"

"Being a dad. You read all the books, and they tell you you'll know what to do if you follow your instincts…I have no instinct! That's what this weekend's about, trying to prove to people I can do this one thing well."

The Doctor moved to the table, flicking through the books that Craig had laid out. "So, what did you call him? Will I blush?"

"No, we didn't call him 'the Doctor'."

"No, I didn't think you would."

"He's called Alfie." Craig looked to Adelaide. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Yes, he likes that, Alfie," the Doctor cut in, nodding to Alfie, "though personally, he prefers to be called Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All."

Craig blinked. "Sorry, what?"

"That's what he calls himself."

"And how do you know that?"

Adelaide shrugged. "We speak baby."

Craig laughed. "Of course you do. I don't even know when his nappy needs changing, and I'm the one supposed to be his dad."

She frowned at Alfie. "He's wondering where his mother is…where is Sophie?"

"She's gone away with Melina for the weekend. She needs a rest."

"No, he's your dad," she continued, for once not actually listening to the answer to the question. "You shouldn't call him Not-Mum."

"Not-Mum?"

"That's you," she nodded towards Craig. "The Doctor is Also-Not-Mum and I'm Almost-Mum. And everyone else is…peasants." She frowned again. "That's very rude."

Craig sighed. "What are you here for? What's happening?"

"We just popped in to say hello."

"You don't do that. Even she doesn't do that. I checked upstairs when we moved, it's real. And next door, both sides, they're humans. Is it the fridge? Are there aliens in the fridge?"

"We just want to see you," Adelaide said, speaking for the Doctor. "We've been on our own for a bit and I've grown quite tired of being left alone with the Doctor all the time."

"Oi!"

She smiled. "But in return for forcing him to visit you, I'm taking him to the Alignment of Exedor."

"The Alignment of Exedor?"

The Doctor moved to lean on her shoulders. "Seventeen galaxies in perfect unison. Meant to be spectacular. We can't miss it…literally can't. it's locked in a time stasis field. I get one crack at flying the TARDIS straight into it if we can get the dates right. Which I have."

"Sounds nice."

He flicked through a paper. "So this is us, popping in and popping out again. Just being social, just having a laugh." He frowned. "Never mind that."

"Never mind what?"

Adelaide glanced at the paper too, spotting something too, and furrowed her brow. "It's nothing."

"No, you've noticed something. You've both got your noticing face on. I have nightmares about that face."

"Ooo, nope, given up all that. Done noticing things." The lights flickered, and the Doctor gripped Adelaide's shoulders tightly. "I didn't even notice that, for example." He stepped back and Adelaide went with him, her expression empty. "Well, got to go. Good seeing you, Craig. Goodbye, Stormageddon."

Adelaide nodded at them both. "Goodbye." She moved so that she had the Doctor's hand and pulled him towards the front of the home.

"No, no, wait, wait," Craig hurried after them. "Can you do the shushing thing?"

"No, it only works once, and only on life forms with underdeveloped brains."

"Hang on, something's not right about you two. How long has it been?"

The Doctor turned to Craig, holding a finger to his mouth. "Shush."

Craig opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything as the Time Lords descended to the street, their hands drifting apart as they walked.

Because it had been two hundred years and Adelaide had spent the entire time knowing what she would have to do, knowing what she was going to leave the universe with.

She was going to leave the universe with the Doctor and she had to be certain he was ready.

They walked hurriedly down the street, back towards where they'd left the TARDIS, and the Doctor started talking to himself, though Adelaide was fairly certain he was also talking to her. "Just go…stop noticing. Just go. Stop noticing, just go. Stop noticing, just go. Stop it!" a streetlight flickered. "Am I noticing? No. No, I am not." He glanced at Adelaide, and she pulled out her sonic. "And what I am not doing is scanning for electrical fluctuations." She began to do just that. "Oh, shut up, you. We're just dropping in on a friend. The last thing we need is a patina of teleport energy…I'm going. Do you hear me? Going. Not staying, going. I am through saving them. We are going away now."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at the Doctor and he grinned.

|C-S|

Alright, so she hadn't fully thought through the fact she was going to have to work in a department store in order to keep the Doctor from destroying anything. They'd traced the power fluctuations to this store, so she'd gotten the Doctor and her a job in order to investigate.

The only problem with that was the fact she had to pretend to enjoy interacting with people in order to keep a job close to the Doctor.

Her entire goal these two hundred years was to remind the Doctor that he could still save people. That everything he'd done to the universe wasn't totally negative, that he had actually, and could actually, do good.

Because someone died at Lake Silencio and the universe had decreed it would be her. But Adelaide wasn't going to leave the universe with no one to protect it. Not that she'd been overly focused on that in the past, but now…this regeneration was. It mattered to this regeneration and part of her knew it honestly would have mattered to her past ones as well.

And as much as she hated it, as much as she wanted to be able to just walk up to that beach and face her death without a second thought, she had to acknowledge the reason she had picked herself for the task.

She didn't want to save people. Or, she did, but she didn't want to want it. She wanted to return to what she'd been, what she'd always been, and leave behind this Time Lady who'd been tainted by either a broken fob watch or a Time Lord too obsessed with humans for his own good.

If the Doctor went to Lake Silencio, that wouldn't stop her from wanting to regenerate. That wouldn't stop her from wanting to become a different Time Lady, the Time Lady she used to be, the one she wanted to be again. And then…the universe would be left with nobody.

Adelaide had seen the state of the universe when she'd been gone in the eyes of Caroline, when the Doctor had been the last Time Lord. She'd watched him suffer but move on, continue to save people even when he kept telling himself he shouldn't. And she'd seen what happened when he died.

The universe had broken.

The universe needed the Doctor.

It didn't need her.

Sure, she kept the Doctor safe, she kept him from embarrassing himself, from insulting anyone beyond repair. But clearly, he could survive without her. Clearly, he didn't really need her.

And maybe she was just telling herself that because she didn't want to give herself a reason for not going to that beach. Because she didn't want to give herself an excuse to run away again.

But before she left, she was going to ensure the Doctor wouldn't fall back into what she'd seen on Mars. She wasn't going to let him be alone.

She didn't care that he didn't want her to go, that there was a chance he would tear the entire universe apart in revenge for leaving him alone again. Someone died and it was going to be her. She wasn't going to let it be the Doctor, even if she had to strap him down until he simmered down enough to do what he did best.

He was going to live and he was going to save everyone.

And she was going to die because it was what she had to do.

Even if it hurt.

Even if the part of her that had become human - the part she hated, the part she wanted gone - kept telling her that she couldn't abandon the Doctor, that she couldn't just leave him like this.

She wouldn't listen to the voice of Caroline inside of her.

Even if doing this meant killing her too.

From where she stood checking prices, Adelaide could hear the Doctor entertaining a group of children with a toy helicopter. "It goes up-tiddly-up, it goes down-tiddly-down! But for only 49.99, which I personally think is a bit steep…but then again it's your parents' cash and they'll only waste it on boring stuff like lamps and vegetables. Yawn!"

Adelaide leaned out of her line of shelves when she heard the door open, spotting Craig and Alfie walking in. "Yeah, Soph," Craig was saying on the phone. "Just enjoy your holiday. Yeah, coping."

The helicopter jerked through the air and Adelaide rushed over just as it hit Craig in the head, making him notice that the two Time Lords were, in fact, right there.

The Doctor winced. "Oops." He crouched down to the kids' heights. "Guys, guys, ladies and gentlemen, while my partner and I deal with this awkward moment, you go and find your parents/guardians. Try in lamps!" he stood, giving one girl a high-five, and grinned at Craig. "Craig!"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Language," Adelaide said, pointing at the children that still ran past her.

"I'm the Doctor. I work in a shop now. Here to help. Look, they gave me a badge" he pointed at it "with my name on in case I forget who I am. Very thoughtful, as that does happen."

"The badge isn't for your sake, Doctor," Adelaide reminded him.

Craig shook his head. "You were leaving. The Alignment of Exeter, what about that? One chance to see it, you said."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, we were on our way, you know. Adelaide saw a shop, got a job. I've got her to start living in the moment. Mind Yappy." He turned away.

"What?"

"Yappy." He held out a toy mechanical dog. "The robot dog. Not so much fun as I remember." He frowned at Craig. "You look awful." Adelaide rubbed her forehead and sighed.

"I haven't slept, have I? I still can't stop him crying. I even tried singing to him last night."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, he did mention that he thought you were crying, too. He didn't get a wink." He ducked away from Adelaide when she tried to swat his shoulder. "Yappy, say goodbye to Craig and Stormageddon." He held up the dog, speaking through it. "Goodbye, Craig. Goodbye, Stormageddon." He put down the toy just as something rushed across the floor down the aisle. "What was that?"

"You're here for a reason, aren't you? One of you noticed something and you're investigating it." The Doctor dropped to his knees, Adelaide staying beside Craig. "And because it's you two, it's going to be dangerous and alien."

Adelaide shrugged. "May not be."

"Doctor, Adelaide, I live here. I need to know."

"No, you don't."

"My baby lives here. My son."

Adelaide stepped forward. "Sheila Clark went missing Tuesday." She held up a newspaper. "Atif Ghosh, last seen Friday. Tom Luker, last seen Sunday."

Craig took it from her. "Why's none of this on the front page?"

"Oh, page one has an exclusive on Nina, a local girl who got kicked off Britain's Got Talent," the Doctor said. "These people are pages seven, nineteen, twenty-two." He started walking, pushing the pram as he went to make Craig and Adelaide follow him. "Because no one's noticed yet. They're far too excited about Nina's emotional journey which, in fairness, is quite inspiring."

"And what else?"

"These funny old power fluctuations…which just happen to coincide with the disappearances."

Craig shook his head. "That's just the council putting in new cables…isn't it?"

They stopped in front of a lift blocked with construction tape. "Oh yes, that's it, mystery solved, wasting our time. Now, you can go home and we can go to Exeter. Goodbye." He soniced the lift. "And here's the lift."

Craig frowned, not only at the Doctor's tone but the fact Adelaide said nothing to stop him. "It says out of order."

The Doctor ripped off the tape. "Not anymore. See? Here to help."

The lift doors opened. "It says danger."

"Oh, rubbish. Lifts aren't dangerous."

Craig frowned. "Do I look like I'm stupid?"

Alfie made a sound, and the Doctor chuckled. "Quiet, Stormy. Oh, alright, there's more." They all stepped inside, and Adelaide soniced the panel. "Just between you, Adelaide, me, and Stormy, don't want to frighten me punters. Someone's been using a teleport relay right here in this shop. Missing people last seen in this area." He put a finger on Craig's lips. "Before you ask, CCTV's been wiped."

"A teleport?" Craig's eyes widened. "A teleport? A teleport like a 'beam me up' teleport, like you see in Star Trek?"

The Doctor nodded. "Exactly. Someone's been using a 'beam me up' Star Trek teleport. Could be disguised as anything."

"But a teleport in a shop? That's ridiculous." The lights flickered, and suddenly they weren't in a lift anymore. "What was that? Was that the lights again?"

"Yes, that's it," the Doctor's voice was strangled as he looked at Adelaide with wide eyes. "That's all. It's the lights."

Craig frowned. "Why did you say that like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like that, in that high pitched voice."

He dropped his voice back to normal. "Just keep looking at me, Craig. Right at me. Just keep looking."

"Why?"

"Well, because…"

But the Doctor didn't get a chance to think of some excuse because Craig looked around the room and finally noticed that they were no longer in a lift. "Oh my God!" A Cyberman appeared in the doorway, clearly drawn by Craig's scream. "What is happening? What is that?"

Adelaide sighed, sonicing the machinery, "quick reverse," and sent them back into the lift.

"What the hell just happened?"

The Doctor hurried out of the lift, followed by Craig pushing Alife, and then Adelaide. "They must have linked the teleport relay to the lift, but Adelaide's just fused it. They can't use that again. Stuck up there on their spaceship."

"What were those things?"

"Cybermen."

Craig shook his head. "Ship…a spaceship…we were in space?"

They stepped outside and the Doctor looked up at the sky, sonicing it. "It's got to be up there somewhere…can't get a fix. It must be shielded."

Craig turned to Adelaide. "But you fused it…you shorted it. They can't come back."

She shook her head. "I only bought us a bit more time. But we still need to work out what they're doing before we can stop it."

"But if they've got the teleport and they're that evil, why haven't they invaded already?"

She didn't look at the Doctor. "Craig, I need you to take Alfie and go."

"No."

Adelaide frowned. "No?"

"No. I remember from last time, people got killed, people that didn't know you. I know where it's safest for me and Alfie and that's right next to you."

Her jaw hardened. This was not the message she wanted to send to the Doctor. "Is that right."

He nodded. "Yeah. You two always win. You always survive."

The Doctor lowered his head. "Those were the days."

"I can help you. I'm staying."

"Craig…" the Doctor shook his head. "Craig…alright, alright, maybe those days aren't quite over yet." He looked at Adelaide. "Let's go and investigate. I mean, there's no immediate danger now."

|C-S|

The small group walked to the jewelry department, where the Doctor grinned at the woman there. "Good afternoon, Val."

Val waved at them. "Hello!"

Craig grabbed Adelaide's arm. "Where am I investigating?"

"Look around, ask questions. I've found people like it when you have a baby."

The Doctor nodded. "Babies are sweet. People talk to you. That's why I usually take a human with me."

Craig frowned. "So, I'm your baby?"

"You're my baby!" The Doctor hugged Craig and then walked with Adelaide to Val, snatching a pair of sunglasses as he went.

"Hope you don't mind me saying, Doctor, but I think you look ever so sweet, you and your partner and the baby."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows and had to suppress a laugh. She may not have that many memories of her time as Caroline, but she couldn't help but remember Donna and the last regeneration of the Doctor.

The Doctor, however, seemed oblivious. "Partner. Yes, I like it. is it better than companion?"

Val shrugged. "Companion sounds old-fashioned. There's no need to be coy these days."

Adelaide leaned forward, taking over for the Doctor. "Have you noticed anything strange around here lately, Val?"

"Well…" Adelaide nodded to prompt her to keep going. "Mary Warnock saw Don Petheridge snogging Andrea Groom outside the Conservative Club on his so-called day off golfing."

Adelaide closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath. "Not my best idea, then." She pushed off the counter, moving back, and the Doctor gave Val a pair of air-kisses before stepping back.

"And then there's that silver rat thing…"

They both stopped, turning back to her. "What?"

|C-S|

The Doctor was scanning the floor of the store, crouched under a table, while Adelaide continued to speak to Val. "A silver rat, with glowing red eyes?"

Val nodded. "Yes. Then it zizzed off. I wanted to get one for my nephew, but stockroom say there's no such item."

"I bet they do," the Doctor mumbled.

"Well, what was it then? Answer me that." There was a loud crash. "What's all that hullabaloo?"

"That'd be the Doctor's partner," she said as the Doctor leapt up, shoving the net into Val's hands, before they both hurried over to the Ladies' Department where they knew Craig had gone.

"Hello, everyone!" the Doctor cheered when they arrived. "Here to help."

One of the other employees, a woman named Kelly, smiled at both of them. "Hello Doctor, Adelaide."

The security guard, George, nodded. "Hello Doctor, Adelaide."

She smiled at both of them. "Has anyone seen a silver rat? No? Thought as much."

"I see you've met our friend, Craig." The Doctor walked over to him. "Nice uniform, George." He gave him thumbs up.

"Thank you, Doctor. If he's with you two, that's all right, then."

"Sorry," Kelly sighed. "I thought he was hassling me, because that's the last thing I need today, because Shona's not turned up, right, so I'm doing twice the work for the same money, if you don't mind."

The Doctor put a finger on his lips. "Shush."

Craig leaned closer to him. "Please teach me how to do that."

Adelaide stepped forward. "No…un-shush her."

"Un-shush," the Doctor said, quite helpfully.

"Shona?"

Kelly nodded. "My supervisor. She's meant to be in today but never showed up."

"When did you last see her?"

|C-S|

The three walked through the changing room corridor in the Ladies' Department. "How do you do that?" Craig asked the Doctor since Adelaide was walking in front of them. "It's a power, isn't it? Some sort of weird alien hypnotic power. I bet you excrete some sort of gas that makes people love you."

The Doctor sighed. "Would that I could, Craig." He opened a curtain and a woman screamed, leading Adelaide to pull him back. "Sorry, madam!" He pulled himself away from Adelaide, looking in again. "I'd try that in red if I were you."

"I'm right though, aren't I?"

Adelaide turned to Craig. "If there were a gas, wouldn't everyone like me too?"

He shrugged. "Maybe only male Time Lords can…"

"I've never excreted any weird alien gases at you," the Doctor said, "and you love me."

"I don't love you."

Alfie made a sound. "Yes, I know," the Doctor said to him. "Course he does. Of course you do. We're partners."

"Yeah, but I did exactly what you would have done, and I nearly got arrested!"

"Stormy thinks you should believe in yourself more."

Craig groaned. "Great. So now my baby's reviewing me."

Adelaide pulled back the curtain of the last room, letting the Doctor step inside. "Here, right here, last night, a Cyberman took Shona."

"A Cyberman? I thought it was a little silver rat."

"It's not a rat," Adelaide corrected. "It's a Cybermat."

"Alright, don't have a go at me just because I don't know the names."

The Doctor stepped out of the room, leading the way back to the Ladies Department. "Cybermats are infiltrators. Very small, very deadly. They collect power like bees collect pollen. One of them's been sucking the electrical energy from this area. But why a shop, you know, why not a nuclear power station?"

Craig paused, frowning. "Okay, why?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Let's ask it ourselves."

The Doctor nodded. "We wait for the shop to shut. We stake the place out and grab ourselves a Cybermat."

"And this is just a coincidence, is it?"

"What is?"

"Aliens in Colchester. Aliens twice in my life, happening to me, just when you two turn up."

The Doctor stopped, turning to face him. "This is not our fault, Craig!"

Alfie fussed. "Oh, shush." Craig attempted to calm him. "Look what you've done now."

"It's actually his nappy," Adelaide told him.

"Well sorry, I don't speak baby, do I?"

The Doctor pointed. "There's a changing station over by Electrical Goods."

"And of course you'd know that. Come on, Alfie." He rushed off.

"Craig!" the Doctor called after him. "It's a coincidence, it happens, it's what the Universe does for…" Adelaide grabbed his arm, stopping him, as Amy and Rory appeared in another aisle, though a young girl ran up to Amy and stopped them from seeing the Time Lords before them.

"Can I have your autograph, please?"

"Yeah, sure." Amy took the girl's notepad.

"…fun," the Doctor finished, his voice almost too quiet to hear now.

"What's your name?"

"Elly."

"To Elly. I like your hairband."

Elly grinned. "Thank you!"

The Time Lords hid behind a rack in order to keep the humans from seeing them. Rory turned to Amy. "Alright?"

"There you go." Amy gave Elly back her notepad.

"Thank you!" the girl ran off, and Amy and Rory continued down the aisle.

They watched the pair walk away, walking past a large perfume advert which made it quite clear why the girl stopped them.

For the girl who's tired of waiting.

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Amelia Pond."

 **A/N: Uh oh, we're getting quite close to the end, aren't we? Adelaide seems to have quite made up her mind...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _lautaro94: Just because the main story is set in New Who, there's no saying how much influence the Time Lady may have had in the universe before the Time War ;)_


	24. Devoted

**Devoted**

The trio hid behind the perfume counter that night, waiting while George went on his patrol, with Alfie next to them. Adelaide had tried to talk Craig out of bringing Alfie, but he made it quite clear that he wasn't going to leave his son alone if there were Cybermen roaming about kidnapping people.

And he didn't want to admit he needed any help.

"Right," the Doctor peeked up, watching George leave through a door, and scanned the room, "let's be having you then, Cybermat."

Alfie started to cry. "Can't you put that on quiet?" Craig asked the Doctor, gesturing towards the sonic.

"No! It's a sonic screwdriver; sonic equals sound!" he pulled an item from the inside of his coat. "Take this. I got it on my discount, ten percent off. It's a papoose."

"Why do I need a papoose?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Alfie wants you to be attached to him; you're far too slow whenever he summons you."

Craig groaned. "When's he going to stop giving me marks?"

"Never. That's parenthood."

Adelaide sighed. "Are you certain you can't get a babysitter?" Alfie made a sound. "No, any babysitter. It does not have to be a hot one."

"I told everyone I know I didn't need their help this weekend." She raised her eyebrows. "They won't even answer my calls. I didn't know there was going to be an invasion of Cybermen!" Alfie gurgled. "Shush."

"It's okay," the Doctor said, turning and seeing the Cybermat out of the corner of his eye. He lunged, somehow managing to catch it in a net. "Ah ha!" he said, bringing it for Adelaide to see. "That's very odd. It must be on low power." He grinned. "Or I'm better at that than I remember."

Adelaide shook her head. "It's on low power."

Craig stepped over, Alfie in the papoose. "Oh, is that it?" the Doctor nodded. "Oh, that's quite cute. Look at that. Look, Alfie, look." The Cybermat bared its teeth and Craig leaped back, the Time Lords working on sonicing it off again. "Metal rat, real mouth. Metal rat, real mouth!"

"Yes, we know it is."

"Metal rat, real mouth!"

"Stop screaming. Stop screaming! Shush!" the Doctor turned as George screamed in the distance. "Come on!" they all ran, using the Doctor's sonic as a guide, to the basement. "George!" they found the torch first, but his body was only a bit away. "George…"

He didn't get a chance to say anything to Adelaide, who had just come down the stairs, when a Cyberman hit him on the head, knocking him out soundly.

Adelaide turned and ran back to Craig, stopping him from entering the room until she was certain the Cyberman was gone. Then the pair of them ran in, both running to the Doctor. "Doctor!" Craig shouted. "Doctor! Doctor! What happened?"

"Oh, I've been, I've been chipped…chapped…chopped!" he turned to Adelaide. "The Cyberman, it killed George, took him back to the ship."

She nodded. "I know, I saw."

Craig, since Adelaide had found a way to keep from telling him what exactly had happened, looked terrified. "The Cybermen are here? But you said…"

"Yeah, I know what I said." The Doctor stood, stumbling. "I say a lot of things. But Adelaide fused the teleport, it should have taken them days to repair."

Craig frowned at him. "Are you okay?"

Adelaide eyed him. "You should be dead…but its arm must have been damaged."

He nodded. "Old spare parts. Must have changed those missing people."

"They've changed the missing into Cybermen? Why didn't they change you?"

The Doctor waved a hand. "A long story. I'm not exactly compatible."

Adelaide shook her head. "But why are they using spare parts?"

"Everything we find out makes less sense."

Craig touched his arm. "Doctor, listen to me. If the Cybermen are here, then we're not safe. We've got to go. We've got to go back to base."

The Time Lord frowned. "We've got a base? When did we get a base?"

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide sat at Craig's table, working on mixing something, as Craig attempted to clean by Adelaide's instruction.

"I'm going down the shop," Craig told them, going to the door. "We've run out of milk. You know what to do if he cries." He tossed them the baby monitor.

"No!"

"Me neither!" Craig called, just as the door shut.

The Time Lords were given a few minutes of respite before Alfie began to cry. They both looked at the monitor, then at each other, then back at the monitor. And then the Doctor stood, leaving Adelaide at the table. "I'll just…be right back." He left the room and Adelaide returned to what they'd been making, but when he arrived in Artie's room she could still hear everything he was saying through the monitor.

"Hello, Stormageddon," he said, his voice quiet. "It's the Doctor, here to help. Shush, hey, there, there. Be quiet. Go to sleep. Really, stop crying. You've got a lot to look forward to, you know. A normal human life on Earth. Mortgage repayments, the nine-to-five, a persistent nagging sense of spiritual emptiness. Save the tears for later, boy-o. Oh, no. That was crabby…good thing Adelaide isn't here, she'd scold me for that." The Doctor sighed. "I'm so old, Stormy. So near the end."

The Cybermat made a sound beside Adelaide and she turned, but it had already leaped off the table, skittering around the kitchen. She chased after it, attempting to keep it from getting anywhere near the Doctor and Alfie, but it had been far too long since she'd had to catch a random small creature.

It managed to make its way upstairs, but a second later the Doctor and Alfie had run out of the boy's room, nearly running right into Adelaide. They just managed to keep themselves from dropping the baby as they hurried down the stairs and outside.

"It's going to be okay," the Doctor told Alfie, bouncing him. "Good Alfie. Yes, don't worry about anything. We're going to go outside." But just as they closed the door, Adelaide realized that she had actually left her sonic on the table and she could see the Doctor's on the floor.

She pulled out her phone, which she had not in fact lost, to try and call Craig while the Doctor tried to keep Alfie calm. "Come on, Craig, please." It went to the answering machine. "There's nothing wrong, but do not enter the house."

"Doctor!"

Both Time Lords turned to see Craig struggling on the kitchen floor, fighting off the Cybermat. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shouted.

"Help me!" The Doctor handed Alfie to Adelaide and rubbed his hands together, not even discussing it with her before he jumped through the glass door. "Get it off me!"

The Doctor grabbed his sonic. "I think I can find the right frequency, shut it down again!"

"Kill it!"

"Alright, alright, alright! Move!" he grabbed a pot and hit the Cybermat, sending it flying away. Craig was able to stand, but the Cybermat just leaped for the Doctor.

"Baking tray!" Adelaide called, not daring to get anywhere near what was happening when she had Alfie in her arms. "Baking tray, Craig, baking tray!"

Craig grabbed the tray and they managed to trap the Cybermat under it. "Hold it down!"

"Get on with it!"

The Doctor turned in a circle, thinking. "Ah, it must be shielded from metastatic energy. Of course!"

"Of course!"

"Don't worry, I have an app for that. Stand back. Stand back!" Craig moved out of the way and the Doctor soniced it, effectively killing it. "Success!" he cheered. "That was amazing. You must be really, really strong. That thing should have had you easily."

"Is it definitely dead?"

Adelaide stepped into the kitchen. "Technically it was never alive, so the proper term would be inactive. Wanted to take us by surprise."

Craig turned to her, sighing. "Alfie."

She was quite happy to hand his child to him.

|C-S|

The Doctor sat on the couch, working on the Cybermat, with Adelaide beside him, though there was a liberal amount of space between them. Craig was walking up and down the room with Alfie in his arms, and he yawned. "I'm knackered. That thing was eating up the electricity?"

He nodded. "And transmitting it up to the Cybership. But why? Why do they need power?"

Adelaide frowned, leaning back. "Why are the conversions not complete?"

"You said you were going to look at its brain."

"No, I had to wipe its brain. Now I can reprogram it and use it as a weapon against them."

"The Cybermat came after us?"

"No, after us," the Doctor gestured between himself and Adelaide. "Because of us, you and Alfie nearly died." He looked down, avoiding Adelaide's eyes. "Do you still feel safe with us, Craig?"

Craig shrugged. "You can't help who your mates are."

"No. I am a stupid, selfish man. Always have been." Now he looked at Adelaide, though she said nothing, and he looked back to Craig. "We should have made you go. We should never have come here."

She touched his arm. "And what would have happened if we hadn't come?"

Craig nodded. "Who else knows about the Cybermen and teleports?"

"I put people in danger."

"If it weren't for you, the Cybermen would have destroyed the planet." She switched to holding his hand, clutching it.

He looked to her. "You could have saved everyone."

"No, Doctor. I wouldn't." He frowned. "You are the one who saves people. I investigate, but I do not help. And, if I do, it's because you make me. Don't dare to think that you do not help, Doctor, because you have saved the universe time and time again. And you are about to do it again."

|C-S|

The next morning, the Doctor closed the door quietly behind him and Adelaide, as he had refused to leave her behind. She'd offered to stay with Craig and keep him out of danger, for once, but the Doctor had insisted that he wanted her to help.

She had a guess about what he was trying to do; the same thing she was attempting for him. He wanted to prove that she could save people.

And now, with how soon her death was, it wasn't worth it to try and convince him that it wasn't worth it.

He held the Cybermat while she had the remote. "Safe mode," he mumbled. "Clever me. Come along, Bitey." He pat the Cybermet and, looking to Adelaide, smiled and continued back towards the store.

|C-S|

The pair walked into the Ladies' Department just as Val did. "Morning!"

Adelaide smiled at her. "Morning."

"Teleport's still fused," the Doctor mumbled, talking to himself, as Adelaide pulled him to follow Val as they walked through the store. She knew sometimes the Doctor needed to walk in order to think, a necessary action as she was letting him take charge. "They didn't repair it. So, the Cyberman last night. How did it get down here, how did it get out?" he seemed to realize that Val was there. "And why…why am I asking you?"

Val pointed at the Cybermat in his hand. "You found the silver rat!"

He shook his head. "But where are the silver men?" he turned and walked back through the store to the changing rooms, and left Adelaide to give some sort of explanation before she could run after him.

She found him talking to the Cybermat. "…back-up system. Something complicated, something powerful, something shielded. Something like a…door. A door!" he walked into the last room, and Adelaide followed. "A disillium-bonded steel door disguised as a wall. This is cheating!" he eyed the mirror, glanced back at Adelaide, and then pulled it open to reveal the tunnel. "So it didn't teleport down, it climbed up."

They stepped into the tunnel, scanning the area with the sonic, until they reached a large cavern where they could see the damaged Cybership. The conversion room, once they found it, was almost laughable for a Time Lord who'd dealt with Cybermen before. "Well, well, well. You have been busy."

Adelaide crouched, drawing George's nametag from the dirt.

"You have come to us," a Cyberman said, and both Time Lords turned to face it.

"Took us a while, lot on our minds. Let's see…this ship crashed here centuries ago. No survivors, but the systems are dormant, waiting for power, and then the council stick a load of new cables right on top of you. Bitey" he held up the Cybermat "wakes up and channels the power. You start crewing up from the shop as best you can. Not enough power, not enough parts."

"When we are ready, we will emerge. We will convert this planet to Cyberform."

"What, the six of you?"

"You know that is enough. You know us. You are the Doctor and Adelaide."

He stepped forward. "Correct. And the Doctor always gives you a choice. Deactivate yourself, or I deactivate you." He aimed his sonic at the Cyberman, but they were both grabbed by other Cybermen who they, somehow, hadn't heard approaching. "Argh!"

"He must become the new leader," the Cyberman holding the Doctor said.

"No," the first one said. "They are not like us. Brain and binary vascular system incompatible. They will be discarded. Other body parts may be of use."

"Oi, Cybermen!" Craig shouted, jumping into the room and brandishing a scanner. "Get off my planet, or I activate this."

"Craig, stop this, get out!"

"Got to believe you can do it!"

The Cyberman turned to Craig. "You located us?"

"Yeah. Teleport in the lift, bit rubbish. And that little Cybermat never stood a chance. So you see what you're dealing with?"

"You are compatible. You are intelligent." The Cyberman put a hand to its chest, shooting electricity at it and making it drop the scanner as another Cyberman grabbed him.

"No, I'm not intelligent! You don't want me!"

"Do not fear. We will take your fear from you. You will be like us. You will be more than us." The Cyberman moved to one of the conversion chambers, opening it.

"No, no, no!"

"Your designation is Cybercontroller. You will lead us. We will conquer this world."

"Doctor!"

The Doctor tried to get out of the grip of the Cyberman holding him. "Craig!"

"Adelaide! Do something, please!" Craig was locked into the chamber. "Doctor!"

"Craig, don't worry, I've reprogrammed their Cybermat. It'll drain their power." Adelaide pulled the remote from her pocket, but a Cyberman just stamped on the Cybermat, breaking it completely.

"You have failed, Doctor. Begin conversion. Phase one. Cleanse the brain of emotions."

"Craig, you need to fight it!" Adelaide shouted. For all she'd said about not wanting to help people…even she couldn't just stand by and watch someone be turned into a Cyberman. "They will convert you if you don't fight back!"

"You're strong! Don't give in to it!"

"Help me!"

"Think of Sophie," the Doctor tried. "Think of Alfie. Craig, don't let them take it all away!"

"Make it stop. Please, make it stop!"

"Craig, please, listen to us! We believe that you can do this, we've always believed in you!"

The headpiece closed around Craig. "Begin full conversion." The machine began, but a monitor flickered to life to show the current security footage of the store, showing Val with a crying Alfie.

"Unknown soundwave detected," a Cyberman said.

"It is the sound of fear. It is irrelevant. We will remove all fear."

"Alfie!" the Doctor called, even if Alfie couldn't actually hear him. "Alfie, I'm so sorry! Alfie, please, stop, I-we can't help him."

"Emotions eradicated. Conversion complete." An alarm sounded and Craig twitched. "Alert. Emotional subsystems rebooting. This is impossible."

Energy crackled around Craig, and the Time Lords watched with open mouths. "He can hear him," the Doctor breathed. "He can hear Alfie…oh, please, just give me this. Craig, you wanted a chance to prove you're a dad. You are never going to get a better one than this!"

The headpiece began to crack. "What is happening?"

"What's happening, you metal moron? A baby is crying. And you'd better watch out, because guess what? Daddy's coming home!"

The headpiece opened, and Craig shouted. "Alfie! Alfie, I'm here! I'm coming for you!" Given the sound, Adelaide was fairly certain he was overloading the machine.

"Yes, Craig!" the Doctor cheered, laughing.

"Alfie!"

The Doctor pulled himself free, using his sonic to free Adelaide. "Alfie needs you!"

"Emergency. Emotional influx."

"You've triggered a feedback loop into their emotional inhibitors. All that stuff they cut out of themselves, now they're feeling it. Which means a very big explosion!"

"Overload! Overload! Overload!"

The group ran for the door. "Get it open! We need to get to Alfie!"

Adelaide shook her head as the Cybermen began to explode. "They've sealed the ship!"

"We've got to get out of here!"

"I know! The teleport!" he soniced it and they were immediately beamed out back to the lift. A second later, the doors opened and Craig rushed back through the store towards where Val was waiting with Craig, though the woman looked shocked to see him coming out of the lift.

"How did you get in there?"

"Alfie!" Craig reached for his son.

"Here's your daddy."

Alfie made a sound once he was in his father's arms, and the Doctor smiled. "That was another review. Ten out of ten."

Craig turned to them. "The Cybermen…they blew up. I blew them up with love."

Adelaide frowned. "You destroyed them because of a deeply ingrained hereditary human trait to protect one's own genes…" the Doctor elbowed Adelaide in the side. "Yes, love. You blew them up with love."

He leaned over so that he could whisper without Craig hearing. "For once I had to keep you from offending anyone."

"Do not expect that to become a habit."

|C-S|

Adelaide waited by Val as the Doctor waited for Craig to get a new shirt since he'd torn his other one. They walked up together and Val smiled. "It suits you."

Craig smiled. "Thanks."

"Discount applies to partners."

"Great."

"Are you two married then?"

Craig shrugged. "No, no, we talked about it, but it's just a piece of paper, isn't it?"

The Doctor wrapped an arm around Craig's shoulders. "Thank you for your help, Val. Good noticing. Keep them peeled."

"I will." She smiled. "I'm glad you two made up for baby's sake."

The Doctor's eyes widened and stepped away from Craig. Adelaide had to put a hand over her mouth to keep her laughter from being too obvious. "Ah."

Craig, however, didn't seem to understand. "How do you mean?"

Val looked at Adelaide. "It's nice for baby to have two daddies who love each other, don't you think?"

"Wait…hang on a sec. Two daddies? You think I'm-"

Val nodded. "His companion."

"Ha ha!" Craig turned to the Time Lords, but neither of them was there. "Doctor? Adelaide?"

"Oh, now where've they rushed off to?"

Craig frowned. "They're gone."

|C-S|

When Craig stepped into his home, he was shocked to see how clean it was, complete with a new bouquet of flowers. "Who's tidied all this up?" he walked into the kitchen, where Adelaide was working on organizing a cupboard and the Doctor was just walking in through the newly repaired glass door.

"See, we do come back."

"How did you…?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Time machine."

"But even with time travel, getting glaziers on a Sunday…tricky."

"You went back in time? What about Exedor?"

"I couldn't just let you get into trouble with Sophie when she returns." Adelaide ran a hand along the counter. "Also, I hate mess."

"You stayed to help me?"

The Doctor grinned, moving up to wrap an arm around Adelaide's shoulder. "Course we did. You're our mate." He smiled at Alfie, giving him a little wave. "I notice Stormageddon is very quiet and happy. Oh, he prefers the name Alfie now. And he's very proud of his dad."

Craig's eyes widened. "He calls me dad?"

"Yes, of course he does now." The Doctor shook his head. "Yeah, I know. He's a bit thick, isn't he?" Adelaide poked the Doctor's arm. "It wasn't me, it was the baby!"

"Oi, shut up, you two," Craig laughed.

The Doctor smiled. "Well, now it's time. We have to go."

Craig stepped forward. "Doctor, Adelaide, I know that something's wrong. I can help both of you."

Adelaide shook her head. "Nobody can help us, Craig, I'm sorry." Adelaide picked up a few envelopes, forcing herself to maintain a smile. "Terribly sorry, but I need these, I hope Sophie won't mind."

"Where are you going to go?"

The Doctor tightened his grip on Adelaide, making it clear that he didn't want her to step away, but she spoke anyway. "America."

Craig nodded towards the door. "Sophie'll be home any second. Are you sure…"

"We can't miss this appointment, Craig." She nodded to Alfie. "Goodbye, Alfie."

"Wait there. One second." Craig hurried out of the room and returned with a Stetson. "From Sean's stag." He put it on the Doctor.

"Wow."

"You ride 'em, pardner.

"Oh, thanks." The Doctor snapped at Craig, taking a step back.

Craig waved. "Bye." The Time Lords nodded, moving towards the glass door. There was a knock. "That will be Sophie arriv-" but when Craig looked back, the Time Lords were already gone.

|C-S|

The Time Lords walked down the street but, as they approached the TARDIS, Adelaide took the hat from the Doctor. "We're going to solve this," the Doctor told her as she studied it, turning it over in her hands. "We're going to find out exactly who the Silence are, exactly what they want."

Adelaide said nothing because she already knew what the Silence wanted.

She already knew what she needed to do.

The time had come.

She needed to die.

|C-S|

River Song closed the files she'd been looking through, eyewitness accounts of the last days of the Time Lord, and was just reaching for her journal when she heard someone speaking in the dark. "Tick tock, goes the clock, and what now shall we play? Tick tock, goes the clock, now summer's gone away."

"Hello?"

A woman with an eyepatch, Kovarian, stepped into the light. "Such a lovely old song. But is it about one of them?"

River frowned. "You know about them?"

"So very well. Oh, don't try and remember me. We've been far too thorough with your dear little head."

She turned to see two of the Silence walk up behind her. "Oh! What are they? What are those things?"

"Your owners." Kovarian picked up the journal and flicked through it.

River looked back at her with alarm. "My what?"

"So, they made you a doctor today, did they? Dr. River Song. How clever you are. You understood what this is, don't you?" Kovarian held up a specific entry in the journal.

"According to some accounts, it's the day Adelaide dies."

Kovarian nodded. "By Silencio Lake on the Plain of Sighs, an Impossible Astronaut will rise from the deep and strike a Time Lord dead."

River took a seat. "It's a story."

"And this is where it begins." Kovarian looked to a door and two soldiers, carrying a spacesuit, walked in. "You never really escaped us, Melody Pond. We were always coming for you."

The soldiers grabbed River's arms. "How do you know who I am?"

"I made you what you are. The woman who kills a Time Lord."

"No! No! No!" one of the soldiers shot her with a sedative gun, and she fell back, dazed.

"Tick tock, goes the clock, and all the years they fly. Tick tock, and all too soon, his love will surely die."

 **A/N: Uh oh...the future doesn't look that good for the Time Lords...**

 **4 chapters left...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _lautaro94: It was sad, but these Time Lords will never have easy lives, will they?_


	25. I'm Sorry

**I'm Sorry**

A woman was escorted through the home of the Holy Roman Emperor - Winston Churchill - until they had reached the man himself. The woman, dressed in pale green, watched him without a definable expression on her face until he ordered they be left alone.

"Tick tock, goes the clock, as the old song says," Winston said. "But they don't, do they? The clocks never tick. Something has happened to time. That's what you say. What you never stop saying. All of history is happening at once. But what does that mean? What happened? Explain to me in terms that I can understand. What happened to time?"

' _A man. A wonderful, horrible man.'_

The woman raised her eyebrows. "A woman."

|C-S|

In another time, Adelaide stepped out of the TARDIS with the Stetson on, walking through the destruction, until she had reached the final lifeform on the ship. "Now, I have a feeling that you don't fully understand the emotions you're experiencing at the moment," she walked up to the nearly dead Dalek. "Let me give you a word for this: afraid. You are afraid."

The Dalek twitched. "Emergency. Emergency. Weapon system disabled. Emergency!"

Adelaide used her sonic to open the casing of the Dalek. "I need information from your data core. Everything the Daleks know about the Silence."

|C-S|

Adelaide stepped up to the bar of Calisto B. "Gideon Vandaleur. Now."

"Who says he's here?" the bartender snapped.

"The fact you just stole five hundred credits from that man." She nodded at the one in question. Not liking the threat, but needing to send a message. Then, nodding at the bartender, she moved to sit at a table, waiting for him to bring Gideon.

A hooded figure sat before her, lowering the hood to reveal an eyepatch. "Father Gideon Vandaleur, former envoy of the Silence." She leaned back. "My condolences."

"Your what?"

"Gideon Vandaleur has been dead for six months." She soniced the man, making him freeze, before leaning forward. "I need to speak to your captain." She gave them a few seconds before she spoke again. "Hello again. It has been quite a long time since Berlin."

"Adelaide, what have you done to our systems?"

She smiled. "They'll be fine so long as you're not rude." Her face neutralized again. "Since you're posing as Vandaleur, I can assume you're investigating the Silence. I would like you to tell me about them."

"Tell you what?"

"Their weakest link."

|C-S|

She sat across from someone who was clearly an alien, with the same eyepatch as Kovarian and Vandaleur, and a chess board between them. A crowd surrounded them, cheering, and the queen before the alien crackled with electricity. Adelaide looked exactly as the universe had always known her to: emotionless, but an instinctive hint of a smirk whenever something went her way and sometimes even when it wasn't.

Adelaide nodded at the piece the alien was, clearly, attempting to avoid touching. "The crowd knows that the queen is your only legal move. But, as you know, you've moved it twelve times and have, thus, caused over four million volts to run through it. Even with that clever gauntlet of yours, you'll never live to bishop four."

"I am a dead man unless you concede the game."

She raised her eyebrows. "But I'm winning."

"Name your price."

"Saying please." She smirked for a second. "Information."

"I work for the Silence. They would kill me!"

She shrugged. "They're going to kill me very soon and, before they do, I would like to be very certain about why I have too."

"Dorium Maldovar is the only one who can help you."

"Dorium was beheaded at Demon's Run."

The alien nodded. "I know. Concede the game, Adelaide, and I'll take you to him."

She waited for a few seconds before tipping her piece, conceding the game.

|C-S|

The alien led her through a tunnel, guiding them by the light of a torch, and there was just enough light to keep them from actually stepping on the various skulls scattered around.

"The Seventh Transept, where the Headless Monks keep the leftovers," the alien explained. "Watch your step. There are traps everywhere."

"And the reason there are no rats?" Adelaide felt she knew the answer, but was still curious.

The alien smirked. "The skulls eat them." A few of the skulls on the shelves turned to look at them as they passed. "The Headless Monks behead you alive, remember."

They reached a room with pedestals, each pedestal holding a box. "The rich are given boxes, and the rest are left to watch."

The alien nodded. "And Dorium Maldovar was always very rich."

Adelaide stepped forward, sonicing Dorium's box to open it. "Thank you for bringing me here, Gantok."

"My pleasure." Gantok aimed a gun at her. "It saves me the trouble of burying you. Nobody beats me at chess." He took a step forward and, promptly, fell through the floor. Adelaide glanced back to ensure he hadn't somehow managed to survive it before sonicing the pit closed.

Dorium opened his eyes, seeming to just have woken. "Hello? Is someone there?" She turned, and he smiled. "Ah, Adelaide, thank God it's you. The Monks, they turned on me." She raised her eyebrows. "Give it to me straight, Adelaide, how bad are my injuries?" she said nothing, and he sighed. "Oh, it really is impossible to fool you, isn't it?"

She smirked.

|C-S|

"This is absurd!" Winston scoffed. "Other worlds, carnivorous skulls, talking heads. I don't know why I'm listening to you."

"In another reality," Adelaide said simply, her hands resting on the table in front of her, "you and I are very close to the same person. I believe that you're able to sense that connection, just as you can sense that there is something wrong with time."

' _Can't he feel the pain? Can't anyone else feel the pain of all reality pressing down on their chest?'_

"You mentioned a woman."

Adelaide nodded. "Yes, she shall be entering the narrative shortly."

"What's she like? Attractive, I assume."

She sighed. "That seems to be the general consensus."

"Tell me more."

|C-S|

"Oh, it's not so bad, really," Dorium said, not caring that he knew Adelaide was only listening because it was rude to interrupt, "as long as they get your box the right way up. I got a media-chip fitted in my head years ago and the wi-fi down here is excellent, so I keep myself entertained."

"I need to know about the Silence."

Dorium sighed. "Oh, alright. A religious order of great power and discretion. The sentinels of history, as they like to call themselves."

"And they want a Time Lord dead."

"No, not really. They just don't want both of you to remain alive." She gestured for him to continue. "Both of you are people with long and dangerous pasts, but your future, together, is infinitely more terrifying. The Silence believe it must be averted."

"What's so dangerous about our future together?"

"On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely, or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered."

Adelaide nodded. "Silence will fall when the question is asked."

"'Silence must fall' would be a better translation. The Silence are determined the question will never be answered. That the Time Lords will never reach Trenzalore."

"By killing one of us, they presume the other will fall as a result." Dorium nodded the best he could. "What is the question?"

"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Would you like to know what it is?" She nodded. "Are you sure? Very, very sure?" Again, she nodded. "Then I shall tell you. But on your own head be it."

|C-S|

Winston leaned closer to her as the pair walked through the halls of the building. "But what was the question? Why did it mean your death?"

"Suppose there was a man who knew a secret. A truly dangerous secret that, if told, would destroy the universe. What would you do?"

He shrugged. "If I had to, I'd destroy the man."

"But suppose there was a woman who was bonded with the man across time, in a way they would never be able to deny. Suppose it was believed that, should the woman die, the man would either be drawn to his own self-destruction or lower his defenses to allow someone else to destroy him. Thus, the question would be destroyed in one neat swipe. And suppose that the woman already wanted to die."

' _I don't want to die, don't let me die. Please, don't let me die!'_

Adelaide looked around the room, shaking her head. "Suppose that silence would fall. All the times we heard those words and we never realized what it meant." She stopped. "Why are we here?"

"This? This is the Senate Room."

She turned to him. "And why did we leave your office?"

"Well, we wanted a stroll, didn't we?" But, as he spoke, he frowned at the revolver in his hand.

"Then why do you have your revolver?"

He shrugged. "Well, you're dangerous company."

Adelaide looked at her arm, seeing the black mark. "Correct, Winston."

"Resume your story."

|C-S|

Adelaide dropped Dorium onto a chair near the console. "Adelaide, please, open my hatch, I've got an awful headache. Which, to be honest, means more than it used to." She opened it, stepping back.

"Why Lake Silencio, specifically? Why Utah?"

"It's a still point in time. Makes it easier to create a fixed point. And your death is a fixed point, Adelaide. You and the Doctor can't run away from this."

She crossed her arms, leaning against the console. "I know, Dorium. It is the Doctor who does not."

Dorium looked around the TARDIS. "Where is that Time Lord, anyway?"

"He is indisposed."

He frowned at her. "What did you do?"

"I couldn't have him interfering with something he didn't understand. I have spent the past two hundred years attempting to convince him of what must occur."

"Two hundred years? What's the point in delaying?"

"When I'm gone, I don't want the Doctor to destroy himself. I want him to continue helping, even if he has to remove himself from the history of the universe in order to do so." She paused, looking away for a moment. "The Doctor - and the Silence - believe that he leads a life of death and destruction." She looked back at Dorium and her eyes were hard. "It has been my mission to prove him wrong, but I have been preventing the inevitable for far too long. My time has come." Slowly, she drew the envelopes she'd taken from Sophie, looking down at them.

She needed to do this.

|C-S|

Vandaleur, though he was truly the Teselecta, was before Adelaide again, with the envelopes spread out on the table. "Surely you could deliver the messages yourself?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "To do so would involve crossing my own timestream. Even I know that shouldn't be done."

"According to our files, this is the end for you. Your final journey. We'll deliver your messages. You can depend on us."

She nodded, standing. "Thank you."

She had just turned to the door when the Teselecta stood as well. "Adelaide, whatever you think of the Teselecta, we are champions of law and order, just as you and the Doctor have been. Is there nothing else we can do?"

Adelaide said nothing as she left.

She'd never been a fan of law and order.

|C-S|

"Why would you do this?" Winston asked her, frowning. "Of all the things you've told me, this I find hardest to believe. Why would you invite your friends to see your death?"

Adelaide looked away. "I had to die, but I wanted one final goodbye. I suppose I'd gotten sentimental toward the end." She sighed. "They were my first companions, you know, Amy and Rory. The last Centurion and the girl who waited, as the Doctor called them. Though, they were more the Doctor's companions than my own. But they were still my friends."

"And did you tell them this was going to happen?" She looked at her arm, taking a deep breath. There were three marks now. "And this woman you spoke of. Did you invite her?"

"River Song was actually there twice." Adelaide looked around the room. "As expected, I set everything up perfectly, and there was only one thing left that I needed to do." She smiled. "I had to die."

|C-S|

In another time, Adelaide stood before the astronaut, her jaw clenched. "Hello. It's going to be okay, I promise." The astronaut lifted its visor, revealing River Song, as Adelaide knew it would. "Alright…here we are at last."

River's eyes were filling with tears. "I can't stop it. The suit's in control."

"It's alright, River, you're not supposed to. This has to happen."

"Run."

She smiled, and that smile looked so impossibly tired, like all the weight of the universe rested on those upturned lips. "I'm done with running. It's time."

"I'm trying to fight it, but I can't. It's too strong."

Adelaide nodded. "This is a fixed point, this must always happen, no matter what path the Universe takes." She knew quite a bit about fixed points. Her past had been peppered with them, scattered with encounters that the stars had wanted.

But not anymore.

"You won't even remember this." She nodded over towards where the other River, Amy, and Rory stood, watching her in pure horror.

"That's me…how can I be there?"

"That is you from the future, serving time for a murder you can't remember." She smiled. "My murder."

"Why would you do that? Make me watch?"

"You need to know that this is inevitable and that I forgive you."

"Please, Adelaide, please…please, just run! Think of the Doctor!"

She nodded. "I have."

"Time can be written."

"Not fixed events, River, I know you know that." She closed her eyes. "Goodbye."

The weapon fired five times, but Adelaide felt no pain and, when she opened her eyes again, River was smirking. "Hello, mermaid."

"What have you done?"

River shrugged. "Well, I think I just drained my weapons systems."

"River, this is a fixed point in time."

"Fixed points can be rewritten."

Adelaide shook her head. "They can't, River, in no universe can they-"

And then, with a flash of light and a pain beyond anything Adelaide could possibly describe, time was rewritten.

|C-S|

"Well? What happened?" Winston asked her.

"Nothing."

He frowned. "Nothing?"

"To put it another way, everything happened at once and it will never stop." She ran a hand through her hair. "Time is dying and it's going to be 5:02 in the afternoon for the rest of eternity."

Winston moved to take a step forward, since they now stood opposite each other, but frowned, sniffing the air. "Gunsmoke. That's gunsmoke!" he lifted his revolver. "Oh, I appear to have fired this."

Adelaide looked down at her arms, now covered with marks. "You seem to be defending us."

He shook his head. "I don't understand."

"The aliens who lead the Silence are remarkable creatures; they're memory-proof." She looked around the room.

"But what does that mean?"

"It's impossible to remember them. The moment you look away, you forget they were ever there. In small numbers, they're not difficult." Adelaide held up her arm, showing him the amount of marks that covered it. "But in large amounts…"

They both looked up to see a large amount of Silence hanging from the ceiling like bats, but before either of them could do anything a device was thrown into the room, beeping. "Go! Go! Go!" a soldier shouted. "Keep the Silence in sight at all times, keep your eye drives active."

Winston squinted through the light the flare bomb created. "Who the devil are you? Identify yourselves!"

A woman stepped forward. "Pond. Amelia Pond."

Winston raised his revolver again, but Adelaide stepped in the way, holding up a hand to Winston, but frowning at Amy, for the woman was wearing an eyepatch. "I do hope that there is still some record of me in this world."

Amy said nothing as she raised her own gun and shot Adelaide.

|C-S|

Adelaide woke in what she quickly determined was the Orient Express - she'd been once, long ago - as a radio spoke in the background. "The Government has again apologized for extensive radio interference caused by solar flare and sunspot activity."

She sat up slowly, rubbing her head, and looked around the room to see Amy standing in the doorway, watching her. "Amelia?"

"Those stun guns aren't fun." Amy stepped forward. "I'm sorry, I wanted to avoid a long conversation. You need to get up, though, we'll be in Cairo shortly."

Adelaide stood. "Given the sketches, various toys scattered about, and your statements, I assume that you remember me."

Amy grinned, laughing. "Hope you don't mind me saying, but you look rubbish."

She looked down at the Roman robes she was wearing, an unbidden blush from a long-suppressed voice rising in her cheeks. Winston had maintained her as an advisor and had, thus, treated her kindly for the undetermined amount of time she'd spent under him.

Thankfully, the presence of Caroline had remained almost completely quiet in her mind, a great contrast to the last time the universe had been rebooted. She was fairly certain it was because she was the center of the change this time rather than the Doctor.

"I shall forgive your slight if you can provide me with new clothes." Amy held out a pale green dress shirt, pants, and shoes. "Thank you, Amy."

|C-S|

Once Adelaide was dressed, she called for Amy to return; as per her request, Amy had left the room until she was ready. "I do like this office, Amy." Adelaide ran a hand over the edge of the desk. "What's the purpose of the eye patch?"

"It's not an eye patch," Amy corrected. "Time's gone wrong. Some of us noticed. There's a whole team of us working on it, you'll see."

"And Rory?"

Amy pulled a drawing from her desk, showing Adelaide an idealized version of Rory. "That's him, isn't it? I can't find him, but I love him very much, don't I?"

Adelaide smiled. "Very much."

"I have to keep doing this, writing and drawing things. It's just…it's so hard to keep remembering."

"Like you said, time's gone wrong. Do you remember why?"

"The lakeside."

Adelaide nodded. "Lake Silencio, Utah. I died."

"But then you didn't. See, I remember it twice, different ways."

"Two separate versions of the same event happening in the same moment must have caused time to split open, making all of history happen at once."

Amy shook her head. "But does it matter? I mean, can't we just stay like this?"

"Time is disintegrating. It will spread itself thin until all reality just falls apart."

There was a knock and a soldier leaned in, one Adelaide recognized immediately as Rory. "Ma'am? We're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark."

Amy nodded. "Good point. Thank you, Captain Williams."

Rory glanced at Adelaide, and the Time Lady gave him a nod. "Hello."

"Hello, ma'am, pleased to meet you." Rory ducked out of the room again.

"Captain Williams," Amy provided, "best of the best. Couldn't live without him."

Adelaide, honestly, had to stop herself from smiling. "Amy, you will find Rory, but you'll need to notice everything. Use your eyes."

"I am using them." Adelaide said nothing and Amy sighed. "Why are you older? If time isn't really passing, then how can you be aging?"

"Time is still passing for me. Every explosion has an epicenter and, this time, I'm what's wrong."

"What's wrong with you?"

She ran a hand through her hair again, breathing hard. "I'm still alive."

' _I'm sorry.'_

 **A/N: Almost at the end. I will say...the next chapter is one of my favorites for this story ;)**

 **Three chapters left...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _God is Gracious: Not permanently..._


	26. Forgive Me

**Forgive Me**

Rory brought Amy and Adelaide through America's Area 52, which was a truly strange experience for Adelaide since they were inside what had once been a Great Pyramid and she could still remember the last time she'd been in it.

Adelaide was still studying her eye patch; it was clear she needed to put it on and that it wouldn't do any damage to her if both Amy and Rory, at least wore them, but she would prefer to know exactly what it did. "What exactly does this do?"

"It's an eye drive, ma'am," Rory explained. "It communicates directly with the memory centers of the brain. Acts as external storage."

"Only thing that works on them. Because no living mind can remember these things."

Rory nodded. "The Silence." He brought them into a room filled with containment chambers, all of which held Silence suspended in fluid. "We've captured over a hundred of them now, all held in this pyramid."

"Yes, I know, I've encountered them before." Adelaide stepped closer, studying one of them. "Always did want to know what they looked like."

"Well, put your eye drive on and you'll retain the information, but only for as long as you're wearing it." Adelaide did as Amy said, turning and stepping back in line with the humans.

"This way," Rory said, beginning to walk again, but noticed the way the Silence were following Adelaide as she walked. "They seem to be noticing you."

"Yes, I expect they would."

Amy stepped up to Adelaide's side. "So why aren't the human race killing the Silence on sight anymore?"

Adelaide looked at Amy with raised eyebrows, almost shocked the human would ask the question, but putting her slight stupidity down to having multiple realities fighting inside her head. "That was another reality. What's the purpose of the tanks?"

"They can draw electricity from anything. It's how they attack. The fluid insulates them. And I don't like the way they're looking at you."

"That I can agree with."

"Ma'am," Rory turned to Amy, "I'm sure it's nothing, but I should really check this out. They haven't been this active in a while." He motioned to the soldiers. "You two, upstairs. Check all the tank seals. Then the floors above, get everyone checking."

The soldiers nodded. "Sir!"

"You go ahead, ma'am," Rory nodded to Amy.

"Thank you, Captain Williams. Adelaide, this way."

Adelaide followed Amy as they left Rory to study the tank. "Do you happen to know Captain Williams's first name?"

Amy shrugged. "Captain." She stepped up to a doorway. "Just through here."

"If you would give me a moment," Adelaide stepped back, "there's something I'd like to check, ma'am." Amy nodded and Adelaide walked back to where Rory was standing. "You've remained so loyal, just waiting to be noticed. Always the pattern with you, it seems."

Rory glanced at her. "Sorry, ma'am?"

"In my opinion," Adelaide smirked, thinking of the Doctor despite herself, knowing this was something the Time Lord would have done, even with how little time there was left in this version of the universe, "you should ask your boss out; she said she likes you."

"Really, ma'am…what did she say?"

"That she'd tear the universe apart for you."

Rory's eyes widened. "Ma'am…"

Adelaide touched Rory's shoulder. "Perhaps not those exact words, but that seemed to be the general meaning of her statements." She stepped back. "Thank you for everything, Captain Williams."

She left before Rory could say anything, returning to Amy's side. "Come on, Adelaide. Time for you to meet some old friends." They stepped into the room.

"Attention all personnel," Rory said over the speakers. "Attention all personnel. Please check all assigned containment units."

They had entered a large open chamber filled with various bits of technology and scientists studying them, though Adelaide's gaze was immediately drawn to a woman standing with another woman in a lab coat. "You were right," the lab coat was saying. "Just her presence in the building caused the loop to extend by nearly four chronons." She gestured towards the large clock above them, flickering between 57 and 58.

"Terribly sorry for being late," Adelaide called to the woman the lab coat was speaking to, making her turn. "It isn't normal for me."

River Song looked at her. "Took you long enough."

"Has there been any sign of the Doctor?" Adelaide was counting on the fact that River, clearly, recognized her that the woman would also know the Doctor, even if no one else did.

"I haven't gone far," a voice called and Adelaide turned to see that the Doctor was sitting in the center of the room, legs crossed, with Kovarian tied to a chair next to him, though the woman was, at the moment, gagged. "It seems that you can't get rid of me, no matter how hard you try." He stood and strode towards her until he was only a few inches away, their faces so close to touching it almost hurt. "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Language."

"Adelaide…"

"For your information, I was saving your life." She took a step back, looking at River. "Except this one messed everything up. I did everything I could to help you and still, you refused." She sighed and looked around the room again. "How did all of this happen?"

"Hallucinogenic lipstick," River told her, ignoring how angry the Doctor currently was. "Works wonders on President Kennedy. And Cleopatra was a real pushover."

Adelaide shrugged. "She always did give that impression."

"She mentioned you," River nodded to the Doctor.

"Shut up!" the Doctor interrupted, making River blink and Adelaide look at him again. He grabbed Adelaide's hands to keep her from leaving again. "I need an explanation, right now."

Adelaide pulled her hands away, stepping around him to look at Kovarian. "And I already gave you one." She pulled off the gag. "Hello, Madam Kovarian."

Kovarian snarled at her. "Why couldn't you just die?"

"Trust me, I wanted to, but you made a basic mistake." Adelaide sighed. "You took a child, raised her into a perfect psychopath, and introduced her to the last two Time Lords. What did you expect would happen?" She turned back to River. "Do you understand the results of your actions, River? You tried to change a fixed event. Reality is fatally compromised."

River shrugged. "Dinner?"

"River, there isn't time, there will never be time, because time is dying as long as I'm alive." She stepped closer to the woman. "Because of you." But she couldn't get any closer because the Doctor snatched her back, gripping her arm far tighter that time.

"You know what happens if you touch," the Doctor told her, his jaw tense.

"And that is precisely why I want to do it." Adelaide tried to pull herself out of his grip again, but the Doctor pulled her tight to him. "Don't tell me that you want time to destroy itself?"

"I don't want you to die," he corrected her.

"Sadly, those two outcomes are closely linked. I have to die for time to reset itself."

"You're not going to die."

She frowned. "Are you just going to keep holding me until time tears itself apart?" Amy stepped forward and, with a slightly pained expression, offered the Doctor a pair of handcuffs. He looked conflicted, but he took them anyway, locking her arms behind her, though he kept a tight grip on one of her arms. "Really, Doctor?"

"You and River are opposite poles of the disruption. If you touch, you short out the differential."

"And time will begin again."

"But you're going to die."

"You keep saying that like I don't already know that would be the outcome."

River stepped forward, though she was quite careful to stay a safe distance away from her. "I don't want to kill you, Adelaide."

"And you don't want time to fall apart; the two desires are contradictory. Reality needs to continue. There isn't another way."

River glanced at the Doctor before speaking. "I didn't say there was."

The Doctor pulled Adelaide further back from River. She looked up at him. "Please, Doctor, just let me do this."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to let you die."

"You and I, out of anyone in the Universe, should know about the importance of fixed events."

He shook his head again. "I'm the one who's supposed to die, Adelaide. I'm the one who's made all of the mistakes, who's ruined everything. The Silence was created to stop me."

She tilted her head, considering him. "The Silence was created to stop the Time Lords, specifically, because don't you dare think that I do not have ruin in my past. Don't think that I haven't turned entire civilizations to dust with a wave of my hand." She sighed. "I have been responsible for just as much destruction as you, Doctor. And…I want to die."

"Don't say that."

"There's no reason to lie, Doctor." She wished he didn't have such a good grip because even if it didn't hurt she wanted to be far away from him at that moment. The closer she was, the more she had to fight the voice of Caroline.

And it wasn't even that she could hear Caroline, just that she could feel her. She could feel her human self pressing against her consciousness, trying to break through. Could feel her fear of death.

"I'm not going to let you die."

Adelaide sighed. "For all you appear to have thought about this, you have failed to actually ask me why I am so determined it be me who goes to that beach and not you." She looked at Kovarian. "She believes that, by killing one of us, the other succumb to death in the act of revenge. Killing two birds with one stone."

"I would tear the universe apart," the Doctor hissed.

"And therein lies the problem. Because I wouldn't." The Doctor said nothing. "If you were to die, Doctor, I would abandon the universe. I would hide within the TARDIS and, eventually, return to the life I'd been living before the war: observing, cataloging, learning. I wouldn't save anyone unless it was accidental."

He shook his head. "No, you wouldn't…"

"But you…even if I died, you would still help. You would find it within you to help. You would make the universe think that you'd died, or killed yourself, but time would pass and you would help all the same. And, Doctor…I want to die."

The Doctor said nothing and neither did Adelaide. They simply stared at each other until River stepped forward again, risking getting close to Adelaide again. "There are so many theories about the three of us, you know."

Adelaide clenched her jaw. "Idle gossip."

"Archaeology."

"Irrelevant."

"Am I the woman who saves him," she nodded at the Doctor, "or the woman who murders you?" she nodded to Adelaide.

"I don't want you to save me," the Doctor said.

River shrugged. "I don't want to murder Adelaide."

"You need to." The Doctor looked at Adelaide again. "You need to kill me, River, and you need to let her."

"What's that?" Amy called, and they all looked at her, following her gaze to a line of water dripping from the ceiling.

"The pyramid…" Adelaide frowned. "How many Silence are there?"

"They're all trapped," Amy said, but Kovarian interrupted her.

"Nope, they're not trapped." They all looked at the woman. "They never have been. They've been waiting for this, Adelaide, for you!"

Rory ran into the room. "They're out! All of them!" A pair of soldiers worked to lock the door as they could hear gunshots from the other soldiers. "No one gets in here! Ma'am," he turned to Amy, "my men out there should be able to lock this down. We have them outnumbered."

"And you're wearing eye drives based on mine, I think," Kovarian grinned. "Oops."

The Doctor looked at her. "What do you mean?" Electricity surged through the eye drive on the woman from earlier. "Help her! Help her!"

Amy ran for the woman as other soldiers fell to the ground, grabbing their eye drives. "She's dead!"

"Eye drives off, now," the Doctor ordered. "Remove them!" he snatched Adelaide's off for her, pulling off his a second later, as Amy just managed to get her's off before it sparked.

"The Silence would never allow an advantage without taking one themselves," Kovarian informed them. "The effects will vary from person to person. Either death or debilitating agony. But they will take you all, one by one." But, as she spoke, her own started to spark. "What are you doing? No, it's me. Don't be stupid, you need me. Stop it…stop that!"

Adelaide looked at River. "We can stop this, right now, you and I."

"Get it off me!"

"Doctor, please."

Amy stepped forward. "We've been working on something, just let us show you."

"I need to do this, Amy. Time needs to be fixed."

The Doctor turned Adelaide to look at him. "We're trying to help you!"

But her face was hard, as emotionless as ever. "People are dying because of this, Doctor. I don't expect you to allow that to happen."

"Just let us show you," Amy tried again. "Please." The Time Lords didn't say anything, and she turned to Rory. "Captain Williams, how long do we have?"

"A couple of minutes."

River nodded. "That's enough. We're going to the Receptor Room right at the top of the pyramid. I hope you're ready for a climb." She led the way, and the Doctor forced Adelaide to go with them, as much as the Time Lady had made it clear that she didn't want that to happen.

|C-S|

They reached the top of the pyramid, the Doctor having been extremely careful to keep Adelaide away from River despite her many attempts to reach the woman. She raised her eyebrows when she saw what was built there; based on what she knew, it was a beacon. "Why did you build a distress beacon?"

"I'm a child of the TARDIS," River said. "I understand the physics."

"It's more than just a distress beacon," the Doctor said and River nodded.

"It's sending out a message, a distress call. Outside the bubble of our time, the universe is still turning, and we've sent a message everywhere. To the future and the past, the beginning and the end of everything: Adelaide is dying. Please, please help the Doctor save her."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Why in any timestream would you do something so foolish? It's ridiculous! It's pointless!"

Amy rushed up. "We barricaded the door, so we've got a few minutes."

The Doctor turned Adelaide so that he was looking at her directly. "You heard those reports of the sunspots and the solar flares; they're wrong. There aren't any. It's not the sun, it's you. The sky is full of a million, million voices saying yes, of course we'll help." His grip softened on her arms, and she had the sense that he wanted to shake her. "Don't you see? You've touched so many people and you've decided that the universe is better off without you, but the universe doesn't agree."

She tightened her jaw. "You aren't listening to me, Doctor, and you need to. Right now, the most important thing in the entire universe is that you listen to what I have to say." He nodded. "This, what you've just told me, may have worked to heal your hearts and change your mind if you were the one dying, but this is exactly why I want to die." His eyes widened. "Do you remember the Time War? And Demons Run? What I had to do?

"I will not deny that my actions have made quite a few civilizations indebted to me. I will not deny that, in some cases, I have had a positive impact on the lives I've left behind. But that has no bearing on why I want to die." She took a breath. "I haven't been able to forget Caroline. That faulty Chameleon Arch has had an everlasting effect on me; I am not the Time Lady I was before the war. I'm something different, something wrong. Whatever I am…I don't want to be that anymore."

"That doesn't mean you have to die forever."

She smirked and leaned closer so that she was just whispering to him. And when she pulled back, she looked back at River, ignoring the Doctor's expression. "If we don't do something, River, the explosion from you changing a fixed point will engulf all of reality."

River shook her head. "I don't want to kill you!"

Adelaide looked towards Amy and Rory. "You really should have taught your daughter to listen to her betters."

Rory frowned, looking at Amy. "I'm not sure I understand."

"We got married and had a kid and that's her," Amy nodded towards River.

"Okay."

Adelaide looked back at the Doctor. "It's time, Doctor. I will explain more later but, please, we have to do this now."

The Doctor's jaw was tense and he didn't seem willing to look away from her. But he still, slowly, unlocked Adelaide's wrists and let her step away from him.

River, immediately, started to back away. "No, Adelaide, don't make me do this."

Adelaide held out a hand. "Just stay calm, River, and let me explain." She let herself smile. "As a Time Lord who's past is peppered with fixed events, I have determined various ways to identify them. There was a fixed event on the shore of Lake Silencio, but it was very, very specific." She stepped closer so that only River could hear her, though the Doctor already knew what she was going to say. "The fixed event doesn't say that I die on that beach. Only that I get shot. Once."

River's eyes widened and, without saying a word, she stepped forward and took the hand that Adelaide had held out to her.

With another bright light, time restarted.

|C-S|

Adelaide closed her eyes and, a moment later, felt one of River's blasts strike her right in the chest.

River lowered the gun but, before anything else could happen, the TARDIS materialized around Adelaide for a split second, so quick it only passed in a blink, taking her and vanishing again, leaving behind a body that looked exactly like Adelaide's.

But inside the TARDIS, already inside the vortex, the real Adelaide was regenerating.

|C-S|

The Doctor sat beside the bed where Adelaide was lying, his head in his hands, just waiting for her to wake.

He needed her to wake.

Just to open her eyes.

She was alive. He'd watched her regenerate, but then he'd watched her fall to the ground, unconscious.

When time had been repaired, the Doctor, with his new knowledge of what Adelaide was doing and where she was, had been able to find a way to fool the universe into thinking that she had actually died.

The TARDIS had helped, creating a shell body that was nowhere near Time Lord in biology but looked identical to Adelaide in appearance. That had been the body Amy, Rory, and River had burned.

The real Adelaide had been here.

With him.

"Doctor…" Adelaide said, but it was a new Adelaide, a different Adelaide. He didn't look up. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't know."

"That River Song would refuse to shoot me, thus causing time to destroy itself and provide me a chance to inform her and you exactly what the fixed event on the beach was?"

The Doctor lowered his hands. "Yes. You wanted to die."

"Yes."

"Why?"

And she told him. She told him exactly what had been wrong with her previous regeneration, exactly why she'd wanted to kill herself, exactly why she hadn't cared if she actually died on the beach.

Told him that loving had been wrong and too much empathy had been wrong and Caroline had been wrong and Adelaide had hated herself. She'd hated herself past the point of it being rational.

The Doctor listened, of course he did, but he also heard the fact that…Adelaide didn't sound like herself. Or, at least, she didn't sound like the Adelaide he had spent the past few centuries getting to know.

She sounded like he would have expected her past regenerations to speak like.

He didn't know what to think about it.

|C-S|

A hooded figure carried Dorium's box back to the pedestal it belonged on. "Who's carrying me?" Dorium shouted, the box closed so he couldn't see anything. "I demand to know. I'm a head, I have rights. I want my doors open this time, I demand that my doors are open!" the figure slid the box open before turning. "Is it you? It is, isn't it? It is you, I can sense it." The figure stopped. "But how did you do it? How could you possibly have escaped?"

The figure turned, lowering its hood, to reveal a face Dorium didn't know, but he had a very good guess about who it was. The woman was clearly older than her previous face, but the wrinkles weren't as pronounced as they could have been and she had quite a few freckles. Her hair was ginger now, but her eyes were the exact same color.

Adelaide had regenerated.

"I know quite a bit about fixed events," she said simply. "I had to get shot on the beach, but time had been very specific about how many times." She held up a finger to make her point. "The Doctor used the TARDIS to keep anyone but River learning what had happened." She lowered her hand. "The universe knew that Adelaide died on that day, it simply didn't know that I regenerated as well."

"So you're going to do this? Let them all think you're dead?"

"We're both going to. It's the only way for us to continue to exist; we've both drawn far too much attention to ourselves."

"And Dr. Song, in prison all her days?"

"The Doctor is very adamant that her nights be spent elsewhere." Adelaide shrugged. "I can't disagree."

"So many secrets, Adelaide. I'll help you keep them, of course."

She raised her eyebrows. "You're a head in a box, Dorium Maldovar. I hope you don't mind if I don't expect you to spread rumors."

Dorium laughed. "But you're a fool nonetheless, which is surprising for you. It's all still waiting for the two of you…the fields of Trenzalore, the fall of the eleventh, and the question."

She nodded, turning again. "Goodbye, Dorium."

The Doctor stood in the doorway of the TARDIS, his arms crossed.

"The first question," Dorium called after her. "The question that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight. The question you'll be running from all your lives…doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor who?"

Adelaide shook her head at the Doctor. "Normally, I applaud when people ask questions with impossible answers. Not today."

The Doctor said nothing, and she didn't expect him to.

She'd hurt him.

She'd hurt him nearly beyond repair.

 **A/N: Surprise! Adelaide's regenerated! I picture her new face to look somewhat like Julianne Moore.**

 **Two chapters left...and then it's time for _Stars in Mind_.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _time-twilight: In my mind, she essentially left the Doctor in an interesting place during all of her research trips and, when she finally did go to the beach, set the TARDIS to return to him._

 _Starangel5593: Glad you liked it! :)_


	27. Weak

**Weak**

As the Doctor ran through a spaceship, dodging explosions, Adelaide stood in the TARDIS waiting to help him. Though, of course, help would likely be a strong word; she hadn't approved of the Doctor running off in the first place, so she wasn't overly willing to do anything to save him from himself.

But he was still the last Time Lord and every aspect of Adelaide's being forced her to attempt to keep him alive if only to maintain the existence of the species.

Because Adelaide wasn't the same as her last regeneration.

And she loved it.

She was herself again.

There was a sound and Adelaide turned, pressing the button on the TARDIS which transmitted the call the Doctor had sent. "Hello, bit of a situation…I've got my finger on a button, which is fine, but as soon as I take my finger off the button the spaceship is going to explode. Which is good in one way, because the spaceship in question is about to attack the Earth, but bad in another way, because I'm on the spaceship and I'm going to get all smithereened. Now, plan; I'm going to send you the coordinates so you can fly the TARDIS here and rescue me. Only flaw in this plan, as far as I can see, is that I don't have the coordinates."

She sighed, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Really, Doctor?"

"Gotta run!" the message ended and Adelaide lowered her hand.

In her old TARDIS, she would have been able to pinpoint the Doctor's exact location and pilot the TARDIS to him. And even if she'd spent over two centuries piloting this TARDIS and learning its quirks, it was notorious for not doing what it was told to. She might determine where and when the Doctor was, but end up halfway across the galaxy a century in the future.

Besides, she'd be able to sense if he was in any life-threatening danger and didn't doubt that the TARDIS would decide to help its pilot once they reached that point.

Now, all she could do was wait for him to send another message which, thankfully, he did, though it was a bit muffled. She was able to see why when he stumbled into the TARDIS with a spacesuit…on backward.

Adelaide had the sense she'd be doing a lot of sighing in this regeneration. Her previous had tended to raise her eyebrows at the Doctor's antics, but it was clear this one's favored method of expressing exasperation was a sigh.

And the Doctor provided much to be exasperated about.

"Help please?" he called, stumbling up the TARDIS. "Adelaide?"

She stepped forward and helped him out of the suit, watching his face shift as he, clearly, didn't expect her new face.

It hadn't been that long since she'd regenerated and the Doctor, for his credit, had been attempting to pretend that she hadn't regenerated. Or at least, he'd been trying. It never seemed to truly work as he intended. His first reaction, whenever he saw her, was that of shock, of worry, of unease. He didn't know what to think of her and she didn't blame him.

She didn't know what to think of her.

She was far closer to her old regenerations now, yes, but she still wasn't exactly there. It was impossible, after everything that had happened in her last regeneration, for her to completely return to what she had once known. Thus, her opinions on things related to both him and her were in a bit of conflict.

The main problem involving the Doctor was that her last regeneration had been in love with him.

Adelaide had to admit it. She couldn't just pretend that there had been no feelings between her previous regeneration and the last Time Lord, though she also couldn't ignore the fact that they were the last Time Lords and that, as the last of their species, there were certain…expectations.

Of course, Adelaide knew that she could just be attempting to explain away feelings she didn't want to admit to being responsible for.

Honestly, it was all rather confusing, even for her.

Especially having just regenerated and had her entire mentality change between regenerations. And with Caroline still somewhere in her mind, shut away but still there, it made it even more difficult.

She couldn't even imagine how the Doctor was dealing wi it, because she had no way of knowing what his true opinion of her previous regeneration or Caroline had been.

And this was all regardless of the fact that she and the Doctor were undeniably Aligned.

|C-S|

The family of the woman the Doctor had encountered in his attempts to find his way back to Adelaide and the TARDIS stood before an old manor, looking up at it with varying expressions.

"Is it haunted?" the boy asked.

"Is it drafty?" the daughter added.

"Oh, this is no good," Madge Arwell shook her head, sighing. "Where's Mr. Cardew? He was supposed to be here?" she strode up to the door and knocked firmly.

The boy, Cyril, leaned towards his sister. "Maybe it's haunted by the ghost of Uncle Digby."

Lily, the girl, made a face. "Uncle Digby is still alive. He's in a home in Battersea."

"Mr. Cardew!" Madge called, knocking again.

Cyril frowned. "But why do we have to come here?"

"Because of the bombing, stupid."

Cyril shrugged. "I like the bombing. It's exciting."

Madge turned back to her children as Lily spoke. "Will Father be here? Well, he will, won't he? You said he'd meet us at the house."

"He'll be here!" Madge said, swallowing hard. "Of course he will. You don't need to keep asking about it."

They all heard the door open from the inside and the children ran forwards. "Father!"

"Sorry!" a man said and the children stopped. "It's the door. It's developed a fault!" There was a banging sound.

Madge stepped forward again, looking uneasy. "Hello? Mr. Cardew?" but she stopped when the door fell back off its hinges and the Doctor, grinning, leapt into the doorway.

"There we go! Well, come in." He gestured furiously at them, ushering them inside. "In you come! Mind your step now. Don't worry, the back door is still, broadly speaking," he put the door back up, "operational." He spun to face them, rubbing his hands. "Right then, may I take your cases?"

Madge nodded. "Thank you."

Lily put down her case. "Thank you."

"Thank you."

"Lovely." He clapped. "Would you mind carrying them for me? I need to show you round." He bounced over Madge's case, moving for the stairs.

"Oh no, wait!" The Doctor paused partly up the stairs. "Who are you?"

"I'm the caretaker."

"But you're not Mr. Cardew."

He nodded. "I agree."

"I don't understand. Are you the new caretaker?"

He shrugged. "Usually called the Doctor...or the caretaker, or Get-Off-This-Planet...though, strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name." He descended the stairs again, stopping in front of Madge. "Hello, Madge Arwell."

The woman blinked, uncertain at how to take this shift. "Hello..."

"And Cyril Arwell," he looked down at the children, "and Lily Arwell." The Doctor stepped back. "Now, come on, come on, lots to see. Whistle stop tour. Take notes, there will be questions." First, he brought them into one of the sitting rooms. "Smaller sitting room...just chairs. Bit pointless without a television, so I made some repairs." He pressed a button by the door and made the chairs start to move around on their own. The children's eyes widened in joy. "I know." He ducked out of the room again, heading towards the kitchen. "Kitchen! That's a cooker, probably. And these are taps..." He tapped them as he named them, "hot, cold, lemonade."

Cyril frowned. "Lemonade?"

"I know!" He darted back out into the main room, though he stopped when nothing happened when he stepped onto the staircase. "Staircase...it seems to have broken down." He pouted. "We'll have to walk up." At the first landing, he pointed back at a small door in the corner. "I sleep up there. Stay away. Beware of panthers."

Lily laughed. "Panthers?"

"They're terrifying. Have you never seen panthers?" He spun, spotting Cyril attempting to look past the door. "Cyril!" Once the boy stepped away, the Doctor brought them to a door that he barely let them see inside. "Mum's bedroom. Grown up. Your basic boring." He closed it, running to the last door. "Lily and Cyril's room." He opened the door with a wide grin, revealing the place where Adelaide had been hiding this entire time.

The Time Lady was putting the final touches on the organization of the room. It appeared to be quite difficult, given how much stuff they had actually managed to pack inside, but she'd managed to do it.

"Adelaide!" The Doctor called, trying to pretend his back hadn't straightened in nervousness from encountering Adelaide again. "The guests of honor have arrived!"

Adelaide turned, dressed slightly festively in a dark green shirt and black sweater with a red belt. "Hello, Arwells. As the Doctor said, my name is Adelaide."

Madge sighed. "Are you a caretaker too?"

"For the moment, yes." Adelaide, sounding less than happy, put down the last thing she'd been holding, straightening it. "Continue the tour, Doctor."

He nodded, swallowing, before running around the room to point at everything as he named it. Adelaide just followed him, straightening anything he messed up; she may have hated cleaning, but she would be damned if she let him ruin all her hard work of attempting to make this part of the gift somewhat presentable. "I'm going to be honest, masterpiece," the Doctor told the Arwells. "The ultimate bedroom. A sciencey wiencey workbench. A jungle. A maze. A window disguised as a mirror. A mirror disguised as a window. Selection of torches for midnight feasts and secret reading. Zen garden, mysterious cupboard, zone of tranquility, rubber wall, dream tank, exact model of the rest of the house, not quite to scale."

Adelaide glanced at the Arwells. "Apologies."

"Dolls with comical expressions, the Magna Carta, a foot spa, Cluedo, a yellow fort..."

"Where are the beds?" Cyril cut in.

"We couldn't fit everything in," Adelaide said, as the Doctor nodded.

"There had to be sacrifices. Anyway, who needs beds when you've got..." He pulled a lever, making two hammocks drop from the ceiling. "Hammocks! I know."

Cyril walked up to one of the hammocks, studying it. "But how do you get on?"

"Watch and learn, kid." The Doctor moved back and, after a moment of pausing, took a running leap for the hammock.

And landed with a loud thud right between the hammocks.

"For God's sake!" Madge shouted, throwing up her hands.

The Doctor popped up again. "This hammock has developed a fault.

"Can you please stop talking?" Madge snapped, shutting everyone up. "Can you please just stop!"

"Sorry," the Doctor mumbled, avoiding looking at Adelaide.

"Children, go downstairs."

Lily frowned. "Why?"

"Are we leaving?"

"Yes...no...I don't know. Just please go downstairs!"

"You don't need to shout," Lily mumbled, leaving with her brother.

Once they were alone, Madge turned to the Time Lords. "Why are you doing all this?"

"I'm just trying to take care of things." The Doctor shrugged. "I'm the caretaker."

Adelaide glanced at him. "This isn't what caretakers traditionally do." She'd been attempting to tell him this for the past few hours, so she didn't have much hope of it sinking in now, but it didn't hurt to try.

He frowned. "Then why are they called caretakers?"

"Their father's dead."

"I'm sorry," Adelaide said, cutting in for the Doctor.

"Lily and Cyril's father, my husband, is dead and they don't know yet because if I tell them now, then Christmas will always be what took their father away from them, and no one should have to live like that. Of course, when the Christmas period is over, I shall..." she swallowed hard, unable to say it again. "I don't know why I keep shouting at them."

Adelaide nodded. "Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be...and it breaks your heart." It almost looked like Adelaide had to catch herself at the end of that last word, but only the Doctor appeared to notice.

"Mother, come and see!" Lily called from downstairs.

"Mother! You're got to see this!"

"Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later?"

"Mother!"

"Mother, are you coming?"

"The answer is...because they're going to be sad later."

The Doctor had to force himself to look away from Adelaide then, and take a breath before speaking. "Now, we'd better get downstairs. I think they may have found the main sitting room."

"Mother!"

He grinned. "I repaired it." Madge gave him a look before stepping out of the room. He glanced at Adelaide again. "What you said..."

"It was very difficult to determine if there was a proper time to tell you how I felt about my previous regeneration." She left the room.

After a second, the Doctor ran after her, both of them arriving on the bottom floor a few seconds after Madge, who had stopped to stare in shock at the large tree the Doctor had acquired. He'd covered it with baubles, ribbons, various toys, and even a train around the bottom. But the main object of the children's focus was the large box next to the tree.

"I know," the Doctor said, grinning at the children when they looked back at him with wide eyes.

"Look at that present!" Cyril said, pointing. "It's for me."

Lily ran over. "No, it says it's for all of us."

"I'm the youngest. I get to open it first."

"Doesn't say who it's from. Mother, who left this here?"

Madge looked around, but the Doctor and Adelaide had already left the room. "That man is quite ridiculous and that woman...you must stay away from them."

"I like them," Lily said.

"I like them, too."

"And it's a nice tree, isn't it?"

"It's the best tree in the world!" Cyril cheered.

"Yes," Madge allowed herself a smile. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"Say it, Mother, go on, please. Say the thing you always say."

Madge took a breath before she spoke, straightening her back. "This Christmas is going to be the best Christmas ever." She hugged her children, kissing their heads.

|C-S|

The Doctor was sitting at a low table next to his TARDIS, working on a small device. Adelaide sat against the TARDIS reading a book on human evolution. They both looked up when they heard Lily enter the attic, looking around. "You were lying about the panthers."

He chuckled. "Famous last words." He flinched as something sparked.

"Why have you got a phone box in your room?"

"It's not a phone box, it's the wardrobe." He flinched again. "I've just painted it to look like a phone box."

Lily walked closer. "Well, what are you doing?"

"Rewiring."

She frowned. "Why would you rewire a wardrobe?"

"Have you seen the way I dress?" Lily smiled. "It's a wonder that Adelaide maintains any sort of stylishness." Adelaide said nothing, but glanced at the Doctor with a frown.

"Who are you?" Lily walked closer to the Doctor. "Really, who are you?"

Something on his device beeped and both Time Lords looked at it sharply. "Your brother, where is he?"

Lily ran out of the room, checking her and Cyril's room, before returning to the attic. "Still in bed, asleep."

The Doctor nodded. "Okay. Faulty, then."

Adelaide, however, stood. "Don't tell me you never snuck out and pretended to still be asleep?"

Her statement was confirmed when the device beeped again.

The Doctor leapt up, leading Adelaide and Lily out of the room and down to the children's room, opening the door quietly.

"See?" Lily whispered, pointing at where it appeared her brother was sleeping.

Adelaide just walked forward, pulling down the blanket. "The present," she told the Doctor.

The Doctor turned again, running down to the first floor and entering the sitting room just as Cyril ducked inside the present. "Cyril!" He fell to his knees, crawling inside.

"What's happening?" Lily stopped. "I don't...what is that?"

Adelaide hurried up to Lily's side, giving her a slight push. "You're not going to fall back asleep, so come with us." Both crawled inside the box.

It may have been stupid to follow the Doctor into the box, especially with a child, but Adelaide was not going to let a child go wandering around the forest completely alone, especially not earlier than expected. If they could find the boy quickly, they could return to the house before Madge woke and then everyone would be safe and sound.

They entered a forest covered in snow, Adelaide quickly pulling off her outer sweater to give Lily some amount of warmth.

"Cyril!" The Doctor shouted, turning around in an attempt to find the boy. "Cyril!"

"Where are we?"

The Doctor cut Adelaide off. "In a forest, in a box, in a sitting room, pay attention." He glanced at his watch. "He's about twenty minutes ahead."

"But we just saw him."

"Time moves differently across dimensional planes," Adelaide said, before making a face at the fact she probably should have explained it better.

The Doctor shook his head, walking around one of the trees. "What do they teach you in schools these days."

"But I don't understand where we are."

"We've gone through a dimensional portal...thingy."

"Well, what's that supposed to be? Where did it come from?"

He sighed. "It was a present, and it wasn't supposed to be opened till Christmas day. Honestly, who opens their Christmas presents early?" Lily frowned at him. "Okay, shut up, everyone." He turned to walk off.

"Apologize."

The Doctor glanced back at Lily. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you."

Lily, though she smiled, looked up at the trees as she and Adelaide followed the Doctor. "I don't understand. Is this place real, or is it fairyland?"

"Fairyland?" The Doctor scoffed. "Oh, grow up, Lily. Fairyland looks completely different. Now, these are Cyril's footprints," he pointed down at the sets of footprints, pulling out a light to see better, "and these are the ones he was following. Notice anything?"

"The other footprints are getting bigger."

He nodded. "Yes...whatever your brother's following, it's growing."

"Well, we have to get after him." Lily ran forward, knocking aside branches as she passed them. As the snow fell from them, Lily stopped and stared when she noticed a large silver orb growing from the end of the branch.

The Doctor hurried over. "It's okay, you're fine. Don't worry."

"Is that tree alive?"

Adelaide frowned at the child. "It's a tree; of course it's alive."

"But is it dangerous?"

"Every rose has its thorns."

Lily held out a hand, almost touching the bauble-like thing. "They're like Christmas tree decorations."

The Doctor grinned. "Yeah, naturally occurring Christmas trees. How cool is that?"

"I don't understand."

"It's a big universe. Everything happens somewhere. Call it a coincidence, call it an idea echoing among the stars." The Doctor straightened, spreading his arms. "Personally, I call it a brilliant idea for a Christmas trip. Or it should've been." The Doctor trailed off, not looking at Adelaide.

Originally, they'd believed their lives peppered with coincidences, drawing them together across the universe.

Now they knew better.

They all went silent, just listening to the wind...or lack thereof. Adelaide frowned. "What's the difference between wind and trees talking to each other?" She mumbled.

Lily looked at her. "What?"

"No wind. We've been here many times, but the trees have never been so active."

The Doctor nodded. "Something's wrong." He eyed the bauble. "What are you doing? What are you up to?" He stepped closer, studying it, until his reflection changed to a wooden king. "I'm sorry, Lily, I really am." He stepped back, taking Lily's hand. "But there is something very wrong in this forest, and your brother's right in the middle of it."

He set off at quite a pace, with Adelaide matching his pace effortlessly but Lily needing to jog to keep up with both of them. "Why would you bring us to this place?"

"It was supposed to be a treat," the Doctor sighed. "This is one of the safest planets I know! There's never anything dangerous here." The ground started to shake. "There are sentences I should keep away from."

|C-S|

After walking for a bit longer, Lily shook her head, drawing Adelaide's sweater closer around herself. "It's just irresponsible. How can you do this to my brother?"

"It was meant to be a supervised trip," Adelaide informed her.

"To the future?"

"Future, yes."

"The future on a different planet?"

"Oh yes, very different."

"Where Christmas trees...happen."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, sort of Christmas trees. They're not really Christmas trees." They reached a small clearing, stopping before a large wooden tower with a glass sphere at the top. The Doctor let out a whistle. "Oh, look at that!"

"What, are we going in?"

Adelaide nodded at the footprints in the snow. "Cyril did." They walked forward, Time Lords looking around the interior with interest.

"Interesting..." The Doctor studied the wooden king sitting right where the footsteps ended.

"What's that? Is that a statue? What is it? It's like a king..."

The Doctor shrugged. "A king, possibly, but not a statue." He pointed the light down. "Look at the floor. This is what Cyril was following...the growing thing."

"Hatched from a bauble on a tree," Adelaide said. "Grew to this size in less than an..."

"Hour," the Doctor provided.

She nodded. "Impressive." She walked over to the wall, running her hand along the wood. "This building is...well, it's not a building, it's a group of trees grown in the shape of a building."

The Doctor grinned. "Ooo, clever, I love clever. Clever old forest. So, the forest grows a building. Why would it do that, Lily?"

"I don't know."

"Why is there honey in a honey trap?"

"Because it's a trap?"

"Exactly. Thing about people, we can never resist a door."

Lily looked around. "So this is a trap. What, we've just walked straight into a trap?"

"A people trap. Question is, why does a forest need people?" The Doctor exchanged a look with Adelaide before eyeing the statue.

"We should go." Lily took a step back. "We have to get out of here."

"Except..."

Lily stopped. "Except Cyril was here."

The Doctor held out a hand and Lily took it, squeezing. "So let's find Cyril."

Adelaide led the way up the stairs, sonic out, and stopped when they finally reached a closed door. "Cyril?" She called, sonicing the lock. "Cyril, can you hear me?"

"Cyril!" The Doctor called. "Cyril!"

Adelaide paused, looking down at her sonic. "Of course...it's wood."

The Doctor hit his forehead, groaning. "It's rubbish at wood."

Lily eyed the door. "It doesn't look like wood."

"It's disguised wood," the Doctor said. "Have you been listening?"

"How can trees grow into a building?"

"Never underestimate a tree, Lily." The Doctor walked forward, pulling out his own sonic to see if two were better then one. "I met the Forest of Cheem once. She fancied me."

Adelaide looked at him. "The Forest of Cheem? I never got a chance to meet them."

He smiled at the memory. "They were wonderful."

 **A/N: Christmas adventures have arrived! Adelaide's still attempting to figure out exactly who this new her is, but what was that confession at the start? ;)**

 **Only one more chapter until _Stars in Mind_ , which I will hopefully post the start of this weekend. :)**

 _Notes on reviews:_

 _lautaro94: These two certainly can't :) I don't want to spoil anything about their future together, but I can certainly say it is interesting._


	28. Strong

**Strong**

"Look at that..." Lily breathed, having looked out the nearby window.

"Busy, actually," the Doctor called, turning to the door. "Yes, I know, it's wood. Get over it."

"But there are stars. There are stars coming out."

Adelaide didn't look over, busy attempting to unscrew her sonic. "Yes, that happens every night."

"Cyril!"

"Yes, but out of the trees," Lily said. Adelaide gave the Doctor her sonic and walked over to stand by Lily as the Time Lord worked. "What is that?"

"Life force, pure life force. Like...singing."

"Beautiful," Lily breathed. "Doesn't it make you want to cry?"

Adelaide allowed herself a small smile. "Crying when you're happy...wonderfully human."

There was a sound behind the door and a burst of golden light. "What's that?" Lily asked as Adelaide ran back over. "What is it? Tell me what!"

"Cyril!" The Doctor banged on the door. "Can you hear me?"

"Cyril?"

Lily crept to the edge of the stairs, looking down to the king as he stood and made to move up the stairs. "Oh my God...oh my God. Caretaker, it's coming! Open it!"

"We're trying!"

"Open it!"

"We're tryi-" he was cut off as the door swung open. "That wasn't me..."

Lily pushed between the Time Lords. "It doesn't matter!" They hurried inside. Cyril was sitting on a wooden throne with a metal band around his head, his eyes closed, while a wooden queen statue stood behind him. Lily ran up to her brother, looking him over. "What's wrong with him? Is he dead?"

The Doctor scanned the boy. "It's okay, he's just unconscious."

Adelaide frowned at the queen. "What are you?"

"Queen Bee of the forest!" The Doctor called, making Adelaide sigh without looking at him.

Lily looked over her shoulder, seeing another window, and watched the 'stars'. "Caretaker, look."

The Doctor followed her to the window, Adelaide observing from where she stood. "It's like..."

"Like what?"

"Like the life force is leaving the forest."

"We have an arrival!" Adelaide said, making them spin as the king entered, walking towards Cyril.

"What are they doing? Stop him!"

The Doctor attempted to use his sonic on the statues, before groaning again. "Annoying aliens made of wood! It was always going to happen, you know."

Adelaide frowned at the statues as they made no move to attack. "They want to talk to us."

The statues looked at Cyril, who opened his eyes as the band glowed. "They're scared." Lily knelt before him. "Can't you hear them? The trees are screaming. Can't you hear?"

"No," the Doctor scanned the band, "but you can. You're connected to them."

"Why have the stars left the trees?" Lily asked her brother."

"I think they're..."

"Concentrate," Adelaide told him. "What are they doing?"

"Evacuating. They're evacuating."

"Why?"

"They're frightened of the rain. The rain that burns."

The Doctor and Adelaide looked at each other again. "Caretaker, please explain," Lily asked them. "I'm frightened."

"Those stars..." The Doctor ran to the window again. "They're pure life force. Souls, if you like. And they're trying to escape because they think their home is going to burn."

"Why can't they just float up into the sky?"

"They need to travel inside a living thing. Inside Cyril." He ran back to Cyril, scanning him again. "You see, this, it's not a crown, it's a relay. They're turning your brother into a lifeboat. That's what this place is for, then. It's an escape plan, is that it?" He turned just as the queen leaned forward. "Don't you harm him. Do not touch that child!"

But the queen touched Cyril's shoulder, making him speak with a distorted voice. "Your coming was foretold."

Lily gasped. "Oh my God, what is that? Why does he sound like that?"

"Oh, hello. Are we lip-syncing now?"

"We had faith," the queen continued. "Your coming was foretold."

"There's no such thing as foretelling. Trust a time traveler."

"Technically..." Adelaide began before the queen spoke again.

"We waited, and you came."

"So, you've got an escape plan. Why aren't you escaping?"

"The child is weak."

He frowned. "You mean he's a child."

"No, he's weak. The forest cannot live in him. But there are others."

"There certainly are. And...the good thing is I look great in a hat." He knelt before Cyril. "So, let's get this thing off, eh?"

"You are also weak."

The Doctor reached for the band. "I'm really not. Let's save a forest, eh, Cyril?"

"You are not the one. You are weak."

"I'm really not!" He lifted the band but fell back as it burnt him, making him scream in pain.

Lily, closest to the Time Lord, grabbed it from him. And Adelaide, though she didn't want to see a child harmed, was impossibly thankful.

The Doctor in pain was not a sight she wanted to see, ever.

"Are you alright?" She asked him, taking his hands to study them.

Lily, as neither Time Lord looked at her, frowned at the band. "This doesn't hurt, it's...funny. It's sort of tingly."

The Time Lords looked at her. "Tingly?"

The queen touched Lily's shoulder. "She is strong, but she is young."

Lily dropped the band, stepping away. "She's strong, I'm weak? Interesting."

"Mummy?" Cyril asked, wincing.

Lily, taking a wide berth around the statue, walked up to her brother. "Cyril, it's alright. It's me. Mummy isn't here but we're going home to her right now, aren't we, caretaker?"

Rain began to fall outside, the Time Lords looking to the window. "No, I don't think we are...the rain that burns. Acid rain."

"We have to get out of this forest," Adelaide said. "This tower won't protect us for long."

"Where's Mummy?"

"She's coming. You know she's coming because she always comes, doesn't she?"

The Doctor walked back to the boy. "Cyril...the way we came here. That door won't stay open forever. Now...I'm not even sure if I can get us through the forest safely, but if we're going to have any chance at all, we have to go now."

Cyril crossed his arms. "No. We wait for Mummy. Mummy always comes."

"Not this time, Cyril. I'm sorry, but not this time."

But then the ground started to shake, and everyone turned to watch as a large three-legged robot stumbled through the forest.

"What's that?"

"It's an Androzani Harvester, but..."

"You recognize that thing?"

Adelaide frowned at the device. "More importantly...I recognize who's driving it."

The Doctor laughed. "Madge has entered the forest! Come on, Madge, you can do it. You go, girl! Come on. This way, girl. You can do it, you can do it! Excellent driving! Hello!" He waved when Madge got close enough to see them properly.

"Caretaker?"

"Yes?"

"You're fired!" The harvester stopped right before the tower, falling sideways.

Both children looked at the Time Lord with terror. "It's okay, she's fine. Don't worry, stay here." He ran for the stairs. "Just stay here!"

Adelaide stayed with the children as Madge ran up, embracing them, and Adelaide left the room to call down to the Doctor. "Don't get too distracted!"

"Stay away from it!" Lily shouted, making Adelaide turn. The queen had spotted Madge and started walking forward, the band held out. "You have to stay back!"

"That's beautiful, isn't it?" Madge stepped forward.

"Mummy?"

"See how it shines."

Adelaide didn't stop the queen as she placed the band on Madge's head.

Strong...weak...young...

The window started to glow as the stars converged on the top of the tower. Lily looked at Adelaide as even the room started the glow. "The stars are going inside her. She's taking the whole forest!"

"It's fine..."

Madge smiled. "Oh, this is marvelous. Oh, this is really quite wonderful." The light vanished just as the Doctor ran up.

Adelaide walked up to Madge. "Are you alright, Madge? Can you hear us?"

"Yes, I can hear you." Madge nodded. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

She raised her eyebrows. "You have a whole world inside your head." She knew what it felt like, having too much stuffed inside her head. Her memories of Caroline may be blurry, but she remembered the sensation of the Library.

"I know! It's funny, isn't it? One can't imagine being a forest, then suddenly one can. How remarkable."

The Doctor, coming to stand beside Adelaide, scanned her quickly. "You're okay...she's okay."

"She is strong," the queen said.

"Oh!" Madge laughed. "That wasn't me. This is all really rather clever, isn't it?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "She's strong...she's strong...ooo, stupid me. Stupid old Doctor."

Adelaide laughed. "Took you long enough."

He spun. "Do you get it, Cyril?"

"No."

"Lily, you do, don't you?"

"No."

"Weak and strong, it's a translation," Adelaide explained, "from the base code of nature."

The Doctor nodded. "You and I, Cyril, we're weak. But she's female. More than female, she's 'Mum'. How else does life ever travel? The Mother ship."

The room shook as it flew into the air.

Lily clutched her brother. "What's happening?"

"No idea. Do what I do...hold tight and pretend it's a plan!" He laughed. "This is amazing!"

Cyril looked out the window, watching the time vortex Madge was currently bringing them through. "Where are we?"

"Technically, we're not anywhere," the Doctor explained. "We've flown into the Time Vortex." He looked at the queen. "You've what you wanted. Those idiots down there can burn your old home and you'll be safe out here. But these people helped you, and they're in my protection. Now help them. How do we get home?"

"Think?"

"Sorry? What?"

"She must only think."

Adelaide looked at Madge. "Did you hear that? You must only think."

"Think what?"

"Think of home. Your mind is controlling this vessel."

Madge frowned. "My head is full of trees, caretaker, can't you fly us home?"

He swallowed hard. "I don't have a home to think of, neither does Adelaide. And, between you and me, I'm older than I look...don't ask Adelaide her age, she gets cranky...and we can't feel the way you do. Not anymore. And you really need to feel it, Madge. Everything about home that you miss until you can't bear it. Until you almost burst."

"Till it hurts. Is that what you mean, caretaker? Till it hurts?"

Adelaide nodded. "Yes. Yes, Madge, yes."

Madge pulled something from her pocket, clutching it with all her strength. "Well then, home in time for Christmas!"

They all jerked around the room, Time Lords attempting to keep the children from getting too injured.

"What's happening?" Lily asked. "Where are we going?"

"Show them!" The Doctor cheered. "Ha! The Time Vortex. Your mother is flying a forest through the Time Vortex." He laughed. "Be a little impressed."

"What are you going home for, Madge? What's pulling you there? Think of it, Madge."

An image of a man, Madge's husband, appeared in the vortex holding a baby.

"Reg!"

"Daddy!"

"My Reg!"

Various points of their life together. Birthdays, playing in the garden, being a family.

The Doctor nodded. "That's it, focus on Reg. Be careful, but focus on him."

"Oh, I don't know."

"How did you meet?" Adelaide asked. "Tell us how you met."

"He followed me home." The image shifted to that story. "I worked in the dairy. He always used to follow me home."

Lily smiled at the image of her father. "Look at Father. He looks so young."

"He said he'd keep on following me till I married him. Didn't like to make a scene."

"Just stay focused. Think of home." The Doctor scanned her again, quickly. "This thing, it works psychically. It'll find a signal and lock on."

The image darkened, a plane appearing among the clouds. Madge's eyes widened. "No. No, please. Don't show me that. Please don't show me that!"

"Is that Daddy's plane?"

Madge shook her head, tears in her eyes. "Please, I don't want to see that! Please!"

The Doctor knelt before Madge, begging her. "No, no, no, no, no, Madge! Don't break the signal now! We can't break it now! I'm sorry, Madge."

"Not the night he died. I don't want to see him die!"

Lily and Cyril froze. "What do you mean, 'the night he died'?"

"Oh please don't make me watch him die!"

"Mummy?" Cyril's voice was shaking. "Is Daddy dead? Mummy?"

They watched Reg kiss a picture of Madge he always kept in his cockpit, the plane beginning to go down. A bright light filled the room, and everything stopped.

|C-S|

When the Doctor woke, the first person he checked on was Adelaide. He should have checked the humans, as he would know immediately if Adelaide wasn't alright, but he needed to see it himself.

He may be uncertain of his feelings for her at this moment in time, but...he cared for her. He cared for her more then he could possibly describe.

He cared for her more then he should dare because he had no way of knowing if she cared for him the same amount.

Adelaide woke as he knelt next to her, frowning the moment they meet eyes. "Doctor..." She caught herself. "The Arwells?"

They both turned as Madge sat up, rubbing her head. Lily and Cyril did the same thing a moment later.

The Time Lords stood, moving to the statues. "Are they dead?" Madge asked them, standing.

They both scanned the statues. "No, they're just wood now. They've been emptied."

Adelaide turned to Madge. "The forest has left your head, correct?"

Madge shook her head. "But where is it now?"

"The life force of the whole forest has transmuted itself into a sub-etheric waveband of light..." Adelaide began, only for both the Doctor and Madge to give her a look. However, the one she focused on was the Doctor. "You, of all people?"

He shrugged, before turning to Madge. "The souls of the trees are out among the stars, and they're shining, very happy. And you got them there." He grinned at her. "Well done, Madge."

"And where are we?"

"Home! Christmas morning!" He wiped the window clear to show them that Madge had landed them in the manor's front yard. "We've taken a bit of a shortcut. Haven't you always wanted to do that?"

"Mother?" Lily called.

Madge turned to her children. "Oh, look at you. You've been so brave, you," she moved to hug them, but they stepped back. "Look, we're home again, see?"

"What did you mean, 'watch him die'? Where's Father? Where is he? Where's Daddy?" Madge looked down, unfolding whatever she had been gripping as she piloted the forest home. "Why are you holding a telegram? Well, what does it say?"

Cyril crossed his arms. "Please, just tell us."

"Tell us!"

Adelaide stepped forward, taking the Doctor's shoulder. "I believe you'd prefer to be alone."

Madge looked at them in tears. "I don't believe anyone would prefer that. Stay close, caretakers."

They nodded. "We'll be right outside." They left the room, leaving Madge to tell her children what had happened, only to stop right after leaving. "Is that?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes."

"I'm going to go get them." The Doctor turned and ducked back into the room. "Er, sorry to interrupt. You might want to pop out here for a moment."

Madge didn't look at him. "Caretaker, I'm talking to my children."

"I know, and before you go any further, I think you'd better come and look." He ran back out, stopping beside where Adelaide stood on the ground. "No stars to light the way, Madge? There was one. There was you." He spread his arms out wide at the plane that sat on the lawn. "Madge Arwell, who flew a whole forest through the Time Vortex, plus one husband." Reg walked out of the plane, looking extremely confused. "He did it again, Madge. He followed you home. Look what you can do, Mother Christmas."

"Madge," Reg asked, walking up to his wife, "what am I doing here?"

"It's Christmas Day, my love!" She laughed. "Where else would you be?"

Reg frowned. "Christmas Day? How?"

"We took a shortcut!" The family ran together, embracing with tears and smiles.

The Doctor and Adelaide smiled at the reunion. "Happy crying," the Doctor said. "Humany wumany."

|C-S|

Adelaide and the Doctor collected everything he'd spread throughout the attic as he'd worked. She'd given him full control of adapting the home, essentially just following behind to ensure he didn't do anything too drastic. But now, as the family celebrated below them, the Time Lords prepared to leave.

They had just gathered everything, pausing around the console, when the Doctor noticed something.

She'd been wearing a sweater since she'd regenerated, but now that she'd given it to Lily to keep the girl warm he could actually see her wrist for the first time.

And she was wearing the bracelet he'd gotten her the previous Christmas.

A reminder of the few months where they'd been perfectly happy, where they'd loved each other without caring. Before their relationship had been cut short by learning they were Aligned.

"You..." He caught himself, but Adelaide had already noticed. She followed his gaze and studied her own wrist.

She said nothing, just twisted the bracelet around her wrist, and then looked up at him again.

The main problem was...the Doctor loved Adelaide. He'd loved Caroline, and he'd loved Adelaide.

But she'd regenerated and become something new and now the Doctor didn't know how Adelaide felt about him. Or, honestly, how he felt about her. He didn't know this regeneration enough to say for certain.

Normally, Time Lords were expected to love regardless of regeneration. They were expected to recognize the similarities between regenerations and love despite the change. There had been occasions, of course, where a pair just couldn't maintain a relationship after regeneration, but those had been rare.

Of course, normally Time Lords didn't spend over a year as a human inside a faulty Chameleon Arch. Normally, Time Lords didn't feel so out of place in a regeneration that they felt they had to die to feel happy again.

There was no saying how close the Adelaide he'd loved actually was to how Adelaide wanted to be.

So now he didn't know what to do.

The monitor beside the Doctor flickered on, showing Madge stepping into the attic. When he looked at Adelaide, apparently she could see the same thing as she gestured towards the door.

The Doctor stepped outside, Adelaide following to lean in the open doorway, and smiled at Madge. "Ah..."

Madge pointed at him, eyes wide as she recognized the TARDIS. "Of course, it's you, isn't it? My spaceman angel with his head on backward."

"How do I look the right way round?" He spun around to show off.

"Funnier."

"Okay."

Madge chuckled. "So you came back."

"Well, you were there for me when I had a bad day. Always like to return a favor, especially with her around," he jerked a thumb back at Adelaide. "Got a bit glitchy in the middle there, but it sort of worked out in the end. Story of my life."

"Thank you." Madge stepped forward and hugged the Doctor, stepping over to give Adelaide a hug as well.

"Oh, you did it all yourself, Madge Arwell," the Doctor laughed. "But thanks for thanking me."

Madge turned to the Doctor again. "Now, the last time I saw you, I went back the next day, but the police box had gone."

He ran back to the box, coming to stand beside Adelaide. "Yeah. You want to see how it's done?"

"No!" The Time Lords paused. "I want you to stay for Christmas, please."

"Ah, well, you see...things to do, people to see."

Madge nodded. "Of course, yes. Family of your own."

"Well, no, actually."

Madge nodded again, remembering. "Oh...yes, yes, you said no family. But there must be people who love you. Friends."

The Doctor shrugged. "No. Well, yes, but...it's a long story."

Adelaide leaned forward. "They all think I'm dead and he's wallowing in his grief."

He grinned. "Never mind! Anyway, watch the box do its thing. It's really cool. You'll love it."

"No. No one should be alone at Christmas."

"We're fine. We don't mind." He gestured between himself and Adelaide again. "We're very good at being..."

"I'm not talking about you," Madge said. "I'm talking about your friends." She looked to Adelaide. "You can't let them think that you're dead. Not at Christmas."

Adelaide twisted the bracelet on her wrist. "It's...complicated. Far too complicated to explain right now."

"You must tell them. At once. Off you go."

Both Time Lords smiled. "Yes, Mum."

The Doctor stepped forward and kissed Madge's cheek. "Now, eyes on the box." They both stepped back to the doorway of the TARDIS.

"Oh, caretaker? What if I require you again?"

"Make a wish."

They stepped into the TARDIS, disappearing together.

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide, now, stood together in front of Amy and Rory's home. Originally, Adelaide hadn't wanted to tell the companions that she was still alive, that the Doctor hadn't abandoned the Universe, but the Doctor had managed to convince her that, out of anyone, Amy and Rory deserved to know the truth.

So now they were knocking and hoping the humans would open the door.

"Argh!" Amy shouted from inside. "If that is more carol singers, I have a water pistol! You don't want to be all wet on a night like this!" She opened the door, aiming the water pistol at them, and froze.

The Doctor managed a smile, though Adelaide didn't. "Not absolutely sure how long."

"Two years." Amy squirted both of them with her water gun.

He wiped his face clean, Adelaide brushing it off her arm. "Okay, fair point."

Amy looked to Adelaide. "So, you're not dead."

The Time Lady smiled. "Surprise."

"River told us."

She sighed. "Of course she did."

"She's a good girl." Amy crossed her arms. "I'm not going to hug either of you first."

The Doctor crossed his arms. "Nor am I." There was a moment before they both leaped forward, grabbing Adelaide and forcing her to join the hug.

Amy stepped back into her house once they parted. "Mr. Pond! Guess who's coming for dinner?"

Rory popped into the hall. "Whoa! Not dead, then."

"We've done that."

"Oh."

Rory came to stand beside Amy, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "We're about to have Christmas dinner. Joining us?"

"If it's no trouble."

"There's a place set for both of you."

Adelaide frowned. "You didn't know we were coming. Why would you set a place?"

"Because we always do. It's Christmas, you moron."

Rory gestured for them to follow him. "Come on." The Ponds walked back to their dining room.

Adelaide smiled after them, unable to help herself. "Thank you, Doctor."

"For what?"

"For making my second Christmas almost as wonderful as my first." She entered the home and the Doctor, after watching her for a moment, joined her.

 **A/N: A lovely happy ending for this story, for once. Maybe there is hope for these two little Time Lords after all :)**

 **The next story of this series will be posted shortly - _Stars in Mind_. You can find it through my profile ;)**


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